THE 


REMINISCENCES 


OF 


NEAL  DOW. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  EIGHTY  YEARS. 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1898 

THE  EVENING  EXPRESS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

PORTLAND,    MAINE. 


Copyright,   1898, 

BY 

FREDERICK   N.   DOW. 
(All  Rights  Reserved) 


ICUTHWOHTH    BROS,    fSlKTERS    AND    E  LECTROTYPERS. 


Nkal  Dow   at  87  Years. 


PREFACE. 


General  Neal  Dow  was  nearly  seventy-five  years  of 
age  when  lie  began  the  preparation  of  the  material 
contained  in  this  volume,  "in  the  hope,"  to  use  his 
own  words,  ' '  that  a  simply  told  story  of  the  temper- 
ance movement  in  Maine  may  stimulate  some  who  fear 
God  and  love  their  fellow-men  to  aid  in  securing  the 
protection  of  society  from  the  infinite  evils  resulting 
from  the  liquor-trafiic. " 

The  work,  in  some  particulars,  was  far  from  agree- 
able to  him.  The  needs  of  the  passing  moment  were 
thought  by  him  of  more  importance  than  indulgence 
in  reminiscences  of  past  activities.  He  had  set  the 
standard  of  complete  success  so  high  that  he  thought 
little  of  what  had  been  done  when  measured  by 
what  remained  to  be  accomplished.  Moreover,  he 
had  an  almost  morbid  disinclination  to  talk  of  his 
personal  efforts  and  experiences,  and  it  was  with 
reluctance  that  he  yielded  to  the  earnest  solicitation 
of  others  to  undertake  a  work  of  which  his  personality 
must  of  necessity  be  a  feature. 

How  and  why  he  was  finally  induced  to  record 
some  reminiscences  of  his  life  is  best  shown  by  the 
following  note,  with  which  he  commenced  the 
*' Reminiscences,"  December  18,  1879,  here  reproduced 
in  facsimile : 


VI 


PREFACE. 


/-^  -"^-^  .d:.*-^^ 


C'i.^^x.yfr' ^Ct^       £;^-,_^     ^y      .       Z^Z        ^ii_<»— ^^'<2^       ^^ 


..^ 


^^f^ 


g;^  '^'i-^t 


^ 


PREFACE.  vii 

No  one  appreciated  more  fully  than  did  Neal  Dow 
the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking  to  which  he 
devoted  his  best  energies  during  a  period  equal  to 
an  ordinary  lifetime.  While  he  had  the  most  com- 
plete confidence  in  the  ultimate  attainment  of  the  end 
he  sought,  a  habit  of  introspection  made  him  exacting 
in  testing  by  actual  results  the  wisdom  and  practica- 
bility of  the  methods  he  used  for  accomplishing 
desired  ends.  To  a  friend  who  was  congratulating 
him,  on  the  occasion  of  his  ninetieth  birthday 
anniversary,  upon  the  success  he  had  achieved,  as 
manifested  by  the  world-wide  recognition  of  the  day, 
General  Dow  said:  "All  this  is  nothing  to  me  so  long 
as  a  liquor-saloon  exists  under  the  sanction  of  law,  or 
with  the  consent  of  officials  in  violation  of  law.  This 
celebration  of  my  birthday  is  gratifying  to  me,  cliiefly 
as  testimony  of  the  wide-spread  appreciation  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  evil  I  have  antagonized,  and  as  an 
assurance  that,  although  my  personal  efforts  must  soon 
cease  forever,  the  object  for  which  I  have  labored  will 
in  time  be  secured. " 

Impelled  by  such  considerations.  General  Dow 
found  little  time  to  write  of  what  had  been  done,  but 
in  the  brief  and  infrequent  intervals  of  what  he 
regarded  as  more  important  work  he  wrote  and  dic- 
tated, as  opportunity  served  and  strength  permitted, 
up  to  the  closing  months  of  the  last  year  of  his  life. 
The  result  was  an  amount  of  matter  sufficient  to  make 
two  volumes  the  size  of  this,  but  his  wish  was 
expressed,  a  week  before  his  death,  that  the  publi- 
cation of  certain  portions  might  be  delayed  for  some 
years,  if  not  suppressed  altogether.  The  presentation 
of  that  portion  authorized  by  General  Dow,  in  con- 
nected form,  after  such   eliminations  as  he  desired. 


viii  PREFACE. 

lias  necessitated  some  immaterial  elianges  in  the  text 
in  order  to  preserve  continuity  of  narration,  and  also 
a  re-arrangement  of  chapters,  as  tliey  were  not  writ- 
ten in  the  order  in  which  they  now  appear. 

During  the  closing  week  of  his  life.  General  Dow 
said:  "If  I  have  inadvertently  so  referred  to  any  per- 
son or  event  as  to  wound  the  feelings  of  the  closest 
friend  of  any  with  whom  I  have  been  in  controversy, 
it  is  my  earnest  wish  that  such  reference  be  erased. 
While  the  fight  was  on  I  sought  to  make  my  blows 
effective,  but  in  none  of  them  was  there  unkind 
intent.  In  return  I  have  received  many,  but  they 
have  not  caused  me  to  cherish  personal  ill-will  for 
those  who  gave  them.  In  no  instance  have  I  varied 
from  the  course  which  seemed  to  me  right  through 
fear  of  making  personal  enemies,  or  in  the  hope  of 
gaining  personal  friends.  I  have  no  regrets,  but  it 
will  serve  no  useful  inirpose  to  re-open  old  wounds." 

It  is  proper  to  add  that  many  of  the  incidents  of  a 
purely  personal  character  were  not  intended  by  Gen- 
eral Dow  for  publication.  They  are  given  here,  as 
being  relevant  to  the  design  of  the  volume,  sidelights 
on  the  character  of  one  who  was  among  the  pioneers 
in  one  of  the  greatest  moral  reforms  the  world  has 
ever  known,  as  they  were  related  by  him  during  the 
progress  of  the  wcn-k  in  conversation  with  his  amanu- 
ensis. 

The  two  supi)lementary  chapters  have  been  added 
by  tlie  coiiiiiilcr  at  tlie  suggestion  of  many  friends, 
upon  whose  request  this  volume  is  ])ublished. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MY     ANCESTORS.  REFEKENCE     TO      THEIK     TIMES.  MY     PARENTS. 

THEIR   lURTII,    MARRIAGE   AND    DEATH.  1-27 


CHAPTER  II. 

MY     BIRTH,    BOYHOOD,     SCHOOL    DAYS.        S03IE    REFERENCE    TO    EARLY 

PORTLAND.  28-55 


CHAPTER  III. 

LIFE    AFTER    LEAVING    SCHOOL.       EMPLOYMENTS    AND    INTERESTS    TO 
THE  TIME  OF  3IY  MAJORITY.      3IY   "GRAND  TOUR."         56-80 


CHAPTER  lY. 

MY     EARLY     BUSINESS     LIFE.        MY     MARRIAGE.        3IY     FA3IILY.        SOME 
INCIDENTS  OF  MY   LIFE.  81-100 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   OLD   FIRE-DEPARTMENT    OF    PORTLAND.      MY    CONNECTION   WITH 
IT.      THE   NEW   ORGANIZATION.      THE   DELUGE   ENGINE-COM- 
PANY.     CHIEF   ENGINEER   OF   DEPARTMENT.  101  -  110 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MY    OBSERVATIONS,     VIEWS,     AFFILIATIONS     AND     EXPERIENCE     M'lTH 

REFERENCE     TO     NATIONAL     POLITICS.      MY     NOMINATION 

BY  THE  NATIONAL    PROHIBITION  PARTY   FOR 

PRESIDENT.  1 20  -  1  'y2 


CHAPTER  YII. 

MAINE.      S03IE    ACCOUNT   OF    WHAT  IT  WAS    AND     WHAT    IT    IS.        THE 
CONDITION   OF   ITS   PEOPLE   THEN  AND   NOW.  l.")3  -  ISO 


CHAPTER  YII  I. 

OPENING     OF     THE     TEMPERANCE     REFORMATION     IN     MAINE.       FIRST 
TEMPERANCE   SOCIETY.      GRADUAL   DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE 

WORK,      HOW  I   BECAME   INTERESTED.  181-220 


X  TABLE  OF  COXTEXTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

I.IQUOR    LEGISLATIOX   OF    MAIXE   FROM   1820    TO    THE   SUGGESTIOX    OF 

A    PROHIBITORY    LAM'.       THE    MAINE   STATE    TEMPERANCE 

SOCIETY.       ORGANIZATION   OF  3IAINE   TEMPERANCE 

UNION.       PROGRESS  TOWARD  PROHIBITION. 

GENERAL     APPLETON'S     REPORT 

RECOMMENDING      THAT 

POLICY.  221-249 


CHAPTER  X. 

MAINE    TEMPERANCE  UNION    CONTINUED.       IT  DECLARES  FOR    PROHI- 
BITION.     ENACTMENT   OF  PROHIBITORY'  LAW  IN   1846. 

FURTHER   LEGISLATION.  250-264 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  AVORK    OF    CHANGING  PUBLIC    SENTIMENT.       PROGRESS   IN     PORT- 
LAND.     THE   WASHINGTONIAN  MOVEMENT.      FIRST   POPULAR 

TOTE   ON   LICENSE.      METHODS  AND   INCIDENTS.  26-5-289 


CHAPTER  XII. 

now  SOME  OF  THE  AVORK  WAS  DONE.       ANNOYANCES  AND    ASSAULTS. 
USEFUL  AGENCIES.      SOME  PERSONS  TO   WHOM   MAINE 

IS  INDEBTED.  290-312 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ELECTIONS    AFFECTED    BY    PROHIBITION.       SHARP    CONTESTS    IN  REP- 
RESENTATIVE DISTRICTS.       MY   NOMINATION    AND  ELECTION 
AS  MAYOR   OF  PORTLAND.      REFERENCE   IN   MY   INAUG- 
URAL TO  PROHIBITORY   LEGISLATION.      ACTION 

OF   CITY   GOVERNMENT   THEREON.  313-333 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

PREPARATION    OF    THE    MAINE   LAW.       ITS    ENACTMENT.       INCIDENTS. 
THE   TEXT   OF  THAT   MEASURE.  334-358 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MY     DUTY    AND     INCLINATION    TO    ENFORCE     THE     LAW.        NOTICE    TO 

LIQUOR-DEALEP.S    OF    MY   INTENTION     SO   TO     DO.       THE    FIRST 

SEIZURE.       INCIDENTS.       LIQUOR-TRAFFIC   DRIVEN   OUT 

OF  SIGHT   AND   PRACTICALLY   EXTINGUISHED. 

SOME   REFLECTIONS.  359-392 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTEK  XVI. 

THE  EFFECT  OF    THE    ENFORCEMENT    OF    PROHIBITION.       GATHERING 
OPPOSITION    TO  IT.       MY    DEFEAT    IN    THE    MUNICIPAL 

ELECTION  OF  1852.  393-428 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DEMANDS   UPON  MY   TIME   OUTSIDE   OF   MAINE.       EFFORTS  TO   SUSTAIN 

GOVERNOR    HUBBARD    AND    THE    MAINE    LAAV    IN    THE   STATE 

ELECTION   OF     1852.        PROHIBITION  A  DISTURBING 

ELEMENT   IN  THE  POLITICS  OF  MAINE.  429-452 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

EXTENSIVE    SPEAKING    TOURS     IN    BEHALF    OF    PROHIBITION.        SOME 
OF     THE     TERRITORY'     COVERED.  INCIDENTS      AND      EX- 

PERIENCES  CONNECTED  THEREWITH.  453-474 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   STATE    ELECTION    OF    1853.        BOLT    OF    MAINE-LAW  DEMOCRATS. 

THE  TURNING-POINT  IN   THE  POLITICS   OF  MAINE.  ELEC- 
TION    OF     AVILLIAM     PITT     FESSENDEN     AS 

UNITED   STATES   SENATOR.  475-495 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SPEAKING     TOURS     IN     DIFFERENT     STATES.        MY     NOMINATION     AND 

DEFEAT    AS  A   CANDIDATE    FOR    MAYOR.        THE    COMBINATION 

RESULTING  IN  THE    ELECTION   OF    ANSON   P.   MORRILL 

AS   GOVERNOR   OF   MAINE.  496-521 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

NOMINATION    AND     SECOND    ELECTION    AS   MAYOR.        THE  JUNE  RIOT, 

522  -  544 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

PROGRESS   OF  PROHIBITION  IN   OTHER  STATES.        DEFEAT  OF  GOVERN- 
OR    MORRILL.  ELECTION      OF     A      HOSTILE       LEGISLATURE. 
REPEAL    OF    THE    3IAINE    LAAV.        DISSATISFACTION   OF 

THE  PEOPLE.      RESTORATION   OF  PROHIBITION.  545-560 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

INVITATION  BY    UNITED    KINGDOM    ALLIANCE    TO   VISIT   GREAT  BRIT- 
AIN.       RECEPTION    AT  HALIFAX.        MY  FIRST    OCEAN  VOYAGE. 
AVELCOME  IN  ENGLAND.        MEETINGS    THERE.        EXPE- 
RIENCES,   OBSERVATIONS  AND   INCIDENTS.  570-617 


Xii  TABLE   OF   CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIA\ 

THE     OUTBRKAK     OF     Tllf:    "U'AR     FOR     THE     UNION.        HOPE     THAT    IT 
WOULD      RESULT     IN     THE     DESTRUCTION     OF     SLAVERY.  COR- 

RESPONDENCE   WITH    FRIENDS    IN  GREAT    BRITAIN    AS  TO 
ITS    CAUSE    AND     CONSEQUENCES.         APPOINTED     TO 
THE    COMMAND   OF  A   REGIMENT.        CAMP   LIFE 
OF     THE      THIRTEENTH      MAINE       AT 
AUGUSTA.       DEPARTURE    FOR 

THE     FRONT.  G18  -  643 


CHAPTER  XXY. 

DIVISION     OF     MY     REGIMENT     IN     liOSTON.        I     EMBARK     WITH     FOUR 
COMPANIES     ON     STEAMER     MISSISSIPPI.  THE     THIRTY- 

FIRST      MASSACHUSETTS.  THE      VOYAGE.        A 

STOR3I.         AGROUND.  644  -  662 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

IN     CAMP     AT     SHIP     ISLAND.  3IY    ANTISLAVERY    SYMPATHIES    AND 

POLICY.        EMPLOYMENT    OF   NEGROES    AS   SOLDIERS.        HOSTIL- 
ITY  TO   ME   EXCITED   BY   MY   OBSERVANCE    OF   ARMY 

REGULATIONS  AS  TO  LIQUORS.  663  -  G85 


CHAPTER  XXYII. 

ORDERED    TO    PORT    HUDSON    WITH     MY    COMMAND.        RUMORS    OF    A 
BATTLE.         RAPID    MARCHING.       THE    BATTLE    OF    PORT     HUD- 
SON.        CHARGE   OF  3IY   BRIGADE.         WOUNDED. 

TAKEN  PRISONER.  686  -  703 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

MV     EXPERIENCES      AND      OBSERVATIONS     AS     A     PRISONER      OF     W'AR. 

AVHAT   I     SAW    OF    THE    SOUTH    AT    THAT    TIME.        KINDNESSES 

AND     COURTESIES     EXTENDED     TO     ME.  ESCAPE     OF 

THE   I'NION    OFFICERS    FR03I    LIBBY  PRISON. 

MY     EXCHANGE    FOR    GENERAL 

FITZHUGH   LEE.  "04-737 


8UPPLKMENTARY. 


JENEKAL      DOW  S      NINETIETH      ANNIVERSARY.  HIS       LAST       DAYS. 

LOCAL   'JUIIiFTES   TO    HIS   LIFE   AND   WORK. 

THE   FUNERAL   SERVICES.  738-756 


II. 

SOME     PRESS     AND     oilli:!:      NOTICES     OF     THE     DEATH     OF     GENERAL 

dow.     presentation  ok  portrait  to  the  city.     addresses 

ok   hon.  .loseph  w.  svmonds  and  rev.  dr.  henry  s. 

bi"i:ka<;e.     resolutions  of  the   city 

(jon'ernment.  7.57-769 


CHAPTER    I. 


MY   ANCESTORS.  REFERENCE   TO   THEIR   TIMES.        MY   PAR- 

ENTS. THEIR    BIRTH,    MARRIAGE    AND 

DEATH. 


I  come  from  Englisli  stock  upon  both  sides.  The 
earliest  ancestor  in  my  father's  line  of  whom  I  have 
note,  John  Dow,  was  born  in  Tylner,  Norfolk  county, 
England,  in  1520.  He  died  in  July,  1561,  as  appears 
from  the  date  of  the  execution  of  his  will  and  that  of 
its  probate.  From  that  document  it  is  inferred  that 
he  left  two  brothers  and  three  children. 

His  eldest  son,  Thomas,  my  progenitor,  after  his 
father's  death,  moved  to  Runham,  in  the  same  county. 
From  the  first  of  his  four  children,  Henry  Dow,  I  am 
descended.  Henry  died  in  December,  1612,  or  Jan- 
uary, 1613.  His  second  son,  Henry,  my  ancestor, 
was  born  in  1608.  He  married,  February  11,  1631, 
Joan,  the  widow  of  Roger  Nudd,  of  Ormsby,  Nor- 
folk county,  England;  six  years  after,  he  obtained 
a  license  to  emigrate  to  America.  That  paper,  which 
was  dated  April  11,  1637,  refers  to  him  as  "husband- 
man," aged  tAventy-nine  years,  to  Joan  his  wife,  aged 
thirty,  to  four  children,  and  to  one  servant,  seventeen 
years  old,  as  "intending  to  pass  into  New  England  to 
inhabit. " 


:1  REMINISCENCES 

A\'itli  the  family  mentioned  in  that  license,  Henry 
Dow  settled  in  Watertown,  Mass.  Here  liis  wife  Joan 
died,  Jnne  20,  1G40.  The  next  year  he  married  Mar-' 
.iraret  Cole,  of  Dedham,  Mass.  About  two  years  later 
he  moved  to  Hampton,  N.  H.,  where  he  had  bought 
a  house  and  several  tracts  of  land.  This  homestead 
remained  in  the  possession  of  his  lineal  descendants 
for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  when  in  1854  it 
was  disposed  of  by  the  family. 

Henry  died  April  21,  1G59,  being  then  fifty-one 
years  old.  It  appears  that  he  was  somewhat  promi- 
nent in  the  affairs  of  the  town,  and  that  he  repre- 
f?ented  it  in  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
1G55-5G.  From  this  Henry,  the  first  of  the  family  to 
settle  in  America,  are  descended,  I  believe,  the  numer- 
ous Dows  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  and 
]\Iaine.  Of  those  of  his  children  of  whom  I  have 
any  record  six  lived  over  sixty  years;  four  exceeded 
the  three  score  and  ten  limit  by  three,  five,  seven,  and 
eighteen  years  respectively,  but  the  one  among  them 
to  whom  I  trace  my  lineage,  Joseph,  died  at  sixty- 
four. 

Joseph  Dow  was  born  at  Watertown,  Mass.,  March 
20,  1G39.  He  was  the  third  son  of  the  last  mentioned 
Henry,  and  the  first  of  the  family  born  in  this  coun- 
liy.  He  married,  December  17,  1662,  Mary  Sanborn, 
and  settled  in  that  part  of  Hampton  now  known  as 
Seabrook.  He  seems  to  have  been  active  in  the  con- 
troversies growing  out  of  land-claims  under  conflict- 
ing charters,  liaving  been  appointed  in  behalf  of  the 
town  to  represent  tlie  inhabitants  of  Hampton  upon 
tliat  su]).ject  before  tlie  Royal  Council.  He  was  also 
ollierwise  Interested  in  tlie  jmblic  concerns  of  the 
little  commuiiitv  in  wliich  he  lived. 


or    NEAL    DOW.  3 

Although  like  his  older  brother,  "  Captain"  Henry 
Dow,  Joseph  was  at  one  time  connected  w^ith  the  mili- 
tary service  of  the  colony,  being  a  sergeant,  he  later 
associated  himself  with  the  Friends,  or  Quakers.  He 
was  then  about  thirty-four  years  old,  and  was  among 
the  earlier  converts  of  the  mission  to  this  country  of 
George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  sect.  With  that 
society  my  line  of  the  family  retained  its  connection 
through  several  generations,  or  until  it  was  severed 
by  my  withdrawal,  or  dismissal  —  of  which  more  later. 

My  ancestor,  Joseph,  was  one  of  those  who  suffered 
from  the  persecutions  to  which  the  Quakers  of  his 
day  were  subjected,  but  his  persistency  in  demanding 
his  rights  not  only  led  to  his  receiving  some  recom- 
pense for  his  injuries,  but  to  the  discomfiture  of  the 
governor  of  the  province  and  the  better  treatment 
thereafter  of  the  Quakers  of  the  vicinity.  In  1701  he 
was  one  of  the  trustees  to  whom  the  land  was  con- 
veyed in  behalf  of  "all  those  Christian  people,  called 
Quakers,  living  in  Hampton,  to  seat  a  meeting-house 
thereon."  Two  years  later,  April  4,  1703,  he  died,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-four  years. 

Of  the  twelve  children  of  Joseph,  the  eighth, 
Josiah,  was  my  great-great-grandfather.  He  was 
born  July  2,  1679.  He  married  Mary  Purington,  and 
died  April  18,  1718.  He  was  then  only  thirty-nine. 
His  third  son,  Abraham,  was  my  great-grandfather, 
born  May  2,  1715.  He  married  Phebe  Green.  He, 
like  his  progenitors,  was  a  farmer,  but  became  quite 
prominent  among  the  Friends  as  a  preacher,  and  lived 
to  be  sixty-nine  years  old,  dying  in  1784. 

The  second  son  of  Abraham,  Jedediah,  was  my 
grandfather.  He  was  born  in  1741,  being  forty-three 
years  old  when  his  father,  Abraham,  died.     Through 


4  EEMI.NISCENCES 

liiin,  from  his  father.  I  heard  in  my  youth,  with  the 
interest  they  were  likely  to  excite,  stories  of  life  in 
New  England,  dating  back  into  the  first  quarter  of 
the  last  century. 

My  grandfather  moved  to  Weare,  N.  H.,  about  1772. 
There  he  built  a  log  house  in  what  was  then  a  wilder- 
ness, where  he  cleared  a  farm.  To  this  house,  or 
rather,  near  to  it,  for  the  road  was  not  then  suffi- 
ciently cleared,  I  have  been  told,  came  the  first 
chaise,  or  covered  private  vehicle,  ever  seen  in  the 
town  of  AVeare.  It  brought  visiting  friends  from 
Salem,  Mass.  Three  years  later  Jedediah  and  his 
older  brother,  Jonathan,  built  the  first  two  two-story 
houses  erected  in  the  town. 

My  grandfather  added  to  the  family  vocation  of 
faiining  that  of  a  blacksmith.  I  doubt  not  that  he 
was  a  good  blacksmith,  as  I  know  that  he  was  an 
industrious,  prudent.  God-fearing  man,  and  a  good 
citizen.  He  lived  until  1826,  dying  at  eighty-five.  I 
remember  him  still  as  I  was  wont  to  see  him  when  I 
visited  him  occasionally  in  my  youth.  He  was  in  the 
vigor  of  his  manhood  when  the  Revolutionary  war 
broke  out.  His  life,  with  that  of  his  father,  who  at 
the  inception  of  that  struggle  was  sixty  years  of  age, 
covered  more  than  a  century  of  New  England  history, 
glimi)ses  of  which  in  story  and  tradition  it  was  my 
l>ri\ilege  to  enjoy  when  as  a  boy  I  made  delightful 
visits  to  the  old  homestead  in  Weare. 

To-day.  as  I  recall  some  of  the  incidents  in  grand- 
father's experience,  and  in  that  of  his  father  and 
grandfather,  as  related  to  me,  together  with  other 
well  authenticated  tales  which  I  received  through 
tlifiii  tVoiii  ilit'ii-  elders,  I  seem  to  connect  by  my  own 
lift' Hit'sr  latter  days  of  the  nineteenth  century  with 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  O 

the  earliest  settlements  in  New  England.  Those 
times,  though  lacking  in  the  rush,  bustle,  and  excite- 
ment which  mark  these  later  days,  had  their  own 
peculiar  trials  and  dangers,  joys  and  sorrows,  suc- 
cesses and  disappointments,  which  must  have  left 
their  traces  upon  life  and  character  for  generations. 

As  I  have  said,  my  grandfather  cleared  a  farm  in 
the  wilderness.  It  was  at  a  time  when  the  forests 
were  infested  with  the  wild  beasts  native  to  New 
England.  Neighbors  were  few  and  far  away,  and 
each  settler  was  obliged  to  rely  upon  his  own  skill, 
industry  and  courage  to  overcome  the  obstacles  to  the 
comforts  of  life.  Nor  were  they  at  all  times  free  from 
danger.  When  a  boy,  visiting  my  grandfather,  I  lis- 
tened, eyes,  and  I  dare  say  mouth  as  well,  wide  open, 
to  his  stories  of  the  olden  times.  Some  of  these  are 
fresh  in  my  memory  as  they  were  related  to  me  by 
him  so  many  years  ago. 

One  of  my  ancestors,  whose  name  I  cannot  recall, 
on  the  occasion  of  an  Indian  raid,  in  the  absence  of 
her  husband,  was  dragged  from  her  home,  which  was 
destroyed  by  fire,  and,  with  hands  bound,  concealed 
in  the  woods  not  far  off  in  charge  of  a  one-armed 
squaw.  While  thus  secured,  her  husband,  with  a 
relief  party,  passed  within  sight  and  near  enough  to 
have  heard  her  voice  had  she  dared  to  disobey  the 
command  to  be  silent  from  the  savage  guard  who 
stood  over  her  with  uplifted  hatchet,  ready  to  brain 
her  upon  the  least  outcry  or  movement.  Some  days 
elapsed  before  she  was  rescued.  This  story,  which 
came  to  me  directly  through  my  own  kin  from  her 
who  was  its  heroine,  brought,  in  my  boyish  imagina- 
tion, the  days  of  Indian  cruelty  and  tragedy  down  to 
my  own  time.     Indeed,  they  were  not  far  distant. 


6  EEMINISCENCES 

One  day  my  grandfatlier  was  walking  across  a  field 
when  his  dog  seized  his  coat  and  began  pulling  him 
back  in  so  strange  and  unaccountable  a  way  that  he 
yielded' his  will  to  that  of  the  dog  and  returned  to  his 
home.  In  making  that  retreat  he  turned  and  saw  an 
Indian,  with  a  gun,  move  from  behind  a  rock  by 
which  he  would  have  passed  but  for  the  strange  con- 
duct of  his  dog.  He  always  afterwards  believed  that 
the  animal  saved  his  life. 

One  evening,  Avhen  the  shades  of  night  were  fast 
closing  around  him,  grandfather  was  returning  from 
the  woods,  walking  with  his  head  down,  his  ax  under 
one  arm,  and  his  hands  in  the  pockets  of  his  coat. 
Suddenly  his  hat  was  snatched  from  his  head,  and  he 
saw  confronting  him  in  the  narrow  path  a  huge  bear, 
standing  on  his  hind  feet,  displaying  a  wicked  row  of 
glittering  teeth.  Retreat  was  impossil^le,  had  he 
wished  it,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  fight  it 
out  with  no  quarter  to  either  combatant.  Grand- 
father was  a  powerful,  active  man,  and  an  experienced 
woodsman,  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  ax,  but  his  quick 
and  powerful  blows,  delivered  by  that  formidable 
weapon,  were  for  a  time  parried  by  the  bear.  At  last 
the  edge  of  the  ax  disabled  one  of  the  brute's  paws, 
and  instantly  another  blow  on  the  head  brought  him 
down.     Afterwards  the  end  was  easy. 

The  following  incident  related  to  me  in  those  days 
has  often  seemed  to  me  like  a  connecting  link  between 
the  days  of  my  boyhood  and  those  of  the  witchcraft 
tragedies  of  an  earlier  date.  The  astounding  trials 
and  cruel  ijunishments  of  the  "witches,"  the  annals 
of  which  fill  such  a  sad,  black  page  in  New  England 
history,  had  ceased  long  before  the  date  of  this  story, 
but  tlie  superstitions  in  which  they  liad  their  origin 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  7 

liad  not  all  been  eradicated  at  the  time  of  the  incident 
which  befell  my  Great-great-uncle  Hussey. 

He  was  riding  on  horseback  after  nightfall  on  a 
road  through  the  avoocIs  with  two  comi)anions,  boys  of 
his  own  age,  when  they  heard  a  rushing,  trampling 
sound  some  distance  in  advance,  accompanied  with 
what  their  excited  fancies  conceived  to  be  laughter, 
screaming,  and  unearthly  yells.  The  very  ground 
seemed  to  tremble.  Uncle  Hussey's  companions  said 
it  must  be  witches  and  were  much  frightened.  The 
noise  increased  in  volume,  or  seemed  to  grow  nearer. 
They  stopped  their  horses,  and  it  ceased;  they  moved 
on,  and  it  was  renewed.  Overpowered  by  fear,  his 
companions  turned  back  and  drove  home  as  fast  as 
their  horses  could  run. 

Hussey,  who  had  no  belief  in  witches,  pushed  on  in 
the  direction  of  the  noise,  to  find  at  length  a  clearing 
in  which  a  number  of  horses  were  racing  back  and 
forth,  shaking  the  earth  with  their  galloping  and 
making  the  night  hideous  with  their  mingled  whinny- 
ings,  which  had  been  excited  by  the  approach  of  the 
horses  of  the  belated  travelers.  When  Hussey  subse- 
quently told  his  witch-frightened  companions  what  he 
had  learned,  they  would  not  believe  it,  and  they,  and 
others  to  whom  they  related  the  secret,  insisted  that 
the  noise  must  have  been  made  by  witches,  with 
whom  he  was  in  league,  and  by  whom  he  had  been 
induced  to  attribute  it  to  the  commotion  of  the  beasts. 
Somewhat  earlier  he  might  have  been  put  to  death,  as 
had  others  before  him,  for  no  better  reason. 

The  contests,  however,  with  the  Indians  and  the 
scarcely  more  savage  animals  were  not  a  greater  tax 
on  the  courage  and  endurance  of  the  early  settlers  in 
those  New  England  wilds  than  were  their  struggles 


8  EEMINISCENCES 

witli  the  ^vilderness  from  wliich  they  were  wresting 
their  sustenance.  Even  in  my  youth,  I  wondered  at 
the  industry,  prudence  and  ingenuity  they  manifested 
in  overcoming  the  difficulties  of  their  position,  and 
my  wonder  has  increased  with  the  years.  They  were 
compelled  to  depend  upon  their  own  handicraft  for 
most  of  their  clothing  as  well  as  for  their  food,  and 
down  to  the  days  of  my  early  manhood  the  spinning- 
wheel  and  loom  were  important  parts  of  the  furniture 
of  every  country  house,  and,  indeed,  of  many  a  town 
mansion  in  those  portions  of  New  England  with  which 
I  was  familiar. 

The  children  of  my  grandfather  became  useful, 
respectable,  and  estimable  men  and  women.  By  per- 
sonal application  and  industry  they  obtained  an  edu- 
cation far  in  advance  of  the  average  at  that  time 
among  those  early  settlers  in  the  woods,  securing  it 
despite  difficulties  that  would  have  discouraged  many. 
It  was  only  by  prudence  and  constant  exertion  that 
the  commonest  comforts  of  life  could  be  obtained, 
and  only  by  frugality  could  savings  be  made  to  pro- 
vide for  the  more  comfortable  mode  of  living  they 
enjoyed  in  later  life. 

Tea  and  coffee  were  for  years  entirely  unknown 
among  them;  bean  porridge  was  upon  the  table  every 
meal,  if  indeed  they  were  well  enough  off  to  indulge 
in  it  so  freciuently,  and  the  bread  was  generally  of 
Indian  corn,  sometimes  mixed  with  rye.  There  Avere 
no  grist-mills  within  reach,  and  they  were  obliged  to 
pound  their  corn  in  mortars,  dug  out  of  solid  rock- 
maple.  These  were  out  of  use  before  my  day,  but  in 
my  l)oyhood  I  saw  them  standing  near  the  farm-houses 
where  they  were  put  aside  after  a  grist-mill  had  been 
established  at  some  reasonably  accessible  point. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  9 

I  never  saw  tlie  log  house  my  grandfather  built. 
Before  my  first  visit  to  him  it  had  given  place  to  a 
large  and  excellent  farm-house,  not  long  since  owned 
and  occupied  by  lineal  descendants  of  his.  Here  he 
spent  the  evening  of  his  days  in  the  family  of  one  of 
his  daughters,  my  Aunt  Mary,  whom  I  remember  well 
—  she  lived  until  1853  —  as  one  of  the  most  charming 
women  I  have  ever  known,  though  born  and  reared 
as  she  had  been  amid  the  privations  incident  to  early 
New  England  backwoods  life.  I  do  not  remember  my 
grandmother.  Her  maiden  name  was  Dorcas  Neal. 
She  was  my  grandfather's  second  wife,  his  first  wife 
having  been  killed  by  lightning  a  few  days  after  her 
marriage. 

In  my  boyhood,  while  my  grandfather  lived,  we 
used  to  go  every  year,  my  father  and  mother  in  one 
chaise,  and  my  two  sisters  and  I  in  another,  to  visit 
him  in  the  pleasant,  hospitable  country  home  he  had 
finally  been  able  to  establish.  An  incident  of  one  of 
these  trips,  which  I  recall  as  of  yesterday,  impressed 
upon  my  youthful  mind  a  lesson  by  which  my  horses 
and  those  of  some  of  my  neighbors  have  ever  since 
profited. 

The  horse  I  was  driving  had  his  head  checked  up. 
It  gave  him  a  more  stylish  appearance  than  that  of  the 
animal  my  father  drove,  and  perhaps  for  that  reason 
we  young  folks  preferred  it.  The  horse  became  fret- 
ful and  uneasy,  sweating  profusely,  and  manifesting 
much  discomfort,  which  I  supposed  to  be  evidence  of 
sickness.  At  the  foot  of  a  long  hill  he  stopped  and 
refused  to  go  farther.  Just  then  a  farmer  drove  by, 
and,  noticing  the  horse,  advised  me  to  let  him  have 
his  head.  I  unhooked  the  check,  with  the  result  that 
the  horse  started  immediately,  cooled  off  in  a  short 


10  REMINISCENCES 

time,  and  gave  me  no  more  trouble.  Thus  in  my  l)oy- 
liood  I  learned,  I  do  not  know  liow  many  years  before 
its  publication,  one  of  the  lessons  which  the  little 
book,  "  Black  Beauty,"  has  so  interestingly  taught. 

My  sisters  and  I  looked  forward  to  those  .journeys 
to  the  old  homestead  with  joyful  anticipation  for 
months  before  we  entered  upon  them,  and  after  each 
was  of  the  past  it  was  recalled  in  memories  of  many 
youthful  ]>leasures  and  in  the  valuable  precepts  and 
useful  examples  it  furnished.  In  many  ways  those 
visits  impressed  themselves  upon  me,  and  my  early 
associations  with  my  grandfather  and  his  family  had 
an  influence  upon  all  my  early,  and  doubtless  much  of 
my  later,  life.  Indeed,  no  intelligent,  thoughtful  lad 
could  fail  to  derive  benefit  from  mingling  with  such 
people,  or  to  obtain  advantage  from  the  lessons  taught 
by  their  lives. 

Those  teachers,  exem])lars,  family  friends  of  my 
early  years,  have  passed  away.  The  country  in  which 
they  lived  has  greatly  improved  since  their  day.  It  is 
more  populous,  the  farms  are  better  cultivated,  the 
peo])le  richer,  better  educated,  and  it  would  seem  that 
their  lives  might  be  far  easier  than  those  of  their 
progenitors.  But  the  present  generation  is  not  hap- 
pier than  its  fathers  were  in  their  ruder  homes,  with 
their  simpler  modes  of  life,  Avhile  in  the  midst  of  their 
own  difficulties  they  may  well  wonder  how  their 
ancestors  managed  to  live  at  all. 

The  first  meeting-house  of  the  Friends,  was  built 
near  my  grandfather's  home.  There  the  members  of 
that  society  worshii)ed  in  their  ])lain,  but,  we  may 
believe,  acceptable  way.  There  they  assembled  to 
forget  the  perplexities  and  pleasures  of  this  earthly 
life,  and  to  make  preparation  for  that  to  come. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  11 

I  recall  an  incident  related  to  me  by  one  who  wit- 
nessed it  Avliile  attending'  one  of  those  meetings. 
One  of  the  worshipers  brought  with  her  one  Sab- 
bath her  ]\oonday  meal,  bean  porridge,  in  a  gourd, 
which  was  deposited  under  a  seat  to  remain  there 
during  service,  or  until  she  should  need  it  at  inter- 
mission. During  the  morning  the  solemnity  of  the 
meeting  was  l:)roken  by  a  rude  disturbance.  It  was 
caused  by  a  dog  which  had  pushed  his  head  into 
the  gourd  to  eat  the  porridge,  and,  unable  to  with- 
draw it,  was  running  about  in  meeting,  alarmed  by 
his  unwonted  head-gear,  and  making  the  meeting 
more  entertaining  than  at  any  time  before  or  after  to 
the  young  folk  who  were  Avont  to  attend. 

A  more  modern  meeting-house  stands  on  the  spot 
formerly  occupied  by  that  rude  structure.  Near  it 
are  the  graves  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  olden 
time,  marked  only,  as  was  customary  with  the  early 
Friends,  by  simple  mounds  and  unhewn  stones. 
There  were  put  to  rest  the  remains  of  my  grandfather 
and  grandmother,  and  others  of  my  kin,  to  be  scarcely 
quieter  in  the  repose  of  death  than  in  their  peaceful, 
well-ordered  lives.  They  were  of  those  who,  in  the 
early  New  England  days,  amid  privations  of  many 
kinds,  were  laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of 
civil,  religious  and  personal  liberty. 

We  have  received  from  them  a  heritage  of  priceless 
value,  of  the  cost  of  which  to  our  fathers  we  know 
little,  and  too  often,  I  fear,  care  less.  If  we  of  this 
day  would  keep  constantly  before  us  the  picture  of 
the  plain,  perhaps  homely,  but  virtuous  lives  of  our 
ancestors  we  might  the  better  inculcate  for  the  benefit 
of  our  children  and  our  children's  children,  through 
all  coming  time,  a  fear  of  God  and  love  for  man, 


12  EEMIKISCENCES 

incite  them  to  faitlifuliiews  and  activity  in  the  dis- 
charpre  of  their  duty,  and  instruct  them  by  precept 
and  example  that  "righteousness  exalteth  a  nation, 
but  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people. " 

My  father,  Josiah  Dow,  was  the  eldest  of  four  sons, 
and  the  second  of  seven  children.  He  was  born  in 
Seabrook,  N.  H.,  September  27,  1766,  but  when  six 
years  old  went  to  Weare  with  his  father,  Jedediah. 
There,  surrounded  by  such  influences  as  may  be 
inferred  from  what  has  been  written,  he  lived  until 
he  was  twenty-four.  He  was  about  nine  years  old  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  Eevolution,  and  to  his  last  day 
remembered  well  the  excitement  attending  many  of 
the  events  of  that  war. 

I  have  heard  him  say  that  a  company  of  militia  on 
its  way  to  Boston,  and  which  afterwards  participated 
in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  camped  near  his  father's 
house.  Some  of  his  relatives  were  among  them,  and 
they  took  from  him  some  bullets  he  had  been  casting, 
together  with  the  bullet-mold  and  what  uncast  lead 
he  had.  He  never  admitted  to  me  that  he  was  inten- 
tionally furnishing  ammunition  for  "carnal  war- 
fare," but  Quaker,  and  son  of  a  Quaker,  though  he 
was,  as  a  boy  he  regretted  that  he  had  not  lost  by  the 
militia  a  sufficient  number  of  bullets  to  serve  his 
patriotic  neighbors  through  the  battle. 

In  my  fatlier's  earlier  days  game  of  many  kinds 
abounded  in  the  forests,  among  such  being  the  wild 
turkey,  to  hunt  which  was  his  chief  recreation.  He 
has  told  me  that  a  turkey,  concealed  in  a  tree,  would 
keej)  perfectly  tiuiet,  however  close  he  might  approacli, 
until  his  eye  caught  sight  of  it,  when  instantly  the 
bird  would  be  off,  knowing  instinctively  that  it  was 
discovered.     As  shooting  on  the  wing  was  not  easy 


JosiAH  Dow  AT  90  Years.     Father  of  Neal  Dow. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  13 

witli  the  old  lonio:  flint-lock  "queen's  arm "  of  the  day, 
the  proportion  of  turkey  shot  to  turkey  hunted  was 
always  small. 

The  son  of  a  farmer,  on  a  backwoods  farm,  my 
father's  early  life  was  rude  and  laborious,  but  he  had 
the  requisite  courage  and  determination  to  improve 
his  condition,  and,  the  opportunity  offering,  being 
fond  of  reading,  he  qualified  himself  to  discharge  all 
the  duties  of  a  good  citizen  with  advantage  to  society 
and  credit  to  himself.  In  summer  he  was  an  industri- 
ous worker  on  the  farm  of  his  father;  in  winter  he 
taught  a  school,  in  which,  however,  were  imparted 
only  those  branches  that  country  boys  and  girls  of 
that  early  day  were  expected  to  acquire. 

An  incident  of  his  early  life  in  Weare  which  he  re- 
lated to  me  may  be  of  interest.  There  was  an  elderly 
man,  entirely  blind,  living  somewhere  in  the  vicinity, 
who  was  accustomed  to  ride  on  horseback  about  the 
country.  One  day  my  father  was  working  in  a  clear- 
ing by  the  roadside  when  the  old  man  on  horseback, 
hearing  him  at  work,  stopped  and  inquired  where  he 
was,  saying  that  he  supposed  that  he  was  at  such  a 
point,  but  judged  ' '  by  the  sound  of  his  horse's  steps  " 
that  he  was  mistaken.  Father  explained  to  him  that 
a  little  tan  bark  had  been  spread  upon  the  road  at  that 
point  some  days  before,  and  the  old  blind  man  rode 
on,  reassured  that  his  hearing  was  yet  a  reliable 
guide. 

In  1790,  soon  after  attaining  his  majority,  father, 
becoming  satisfied  that  it  would  be  wise  for  him 
to  seek  another  field  of  employment,  left  AVeare 
and  moved  to  Falmouth,  Me. ,  a  town  then  adjoining 
Portland,  and  of  which  the  latter  had  been  a  part 
until  set  ofi:   in  1786.      Here  he  lived  for  about  five 


14  EEMIXISCEKCES 

years,  in  a  lionse  still  standing  on  ihe  banks  of  the 
Presumpscot  river,  about  five  miles  from  Portland, 
just  beyond  the  covered  bridge  on  the  Blackstrap 
road. 

It  may  vrell  be  believed  that  my  father  brought 
with  him  to  his  new  home  but  little  more  than  good 
health,  a  strong  constitution,  and  those  industrious 
habits  and  simple,  frugal  tastes  which  Avere  the 
natural  outgrowth  of  parental  and  other  influences 
that  had  surrounded  him  in  the  home  of  his  boyhood. 
But  with  what  he  had  he  engaged  in  carrying  on  in  a 
small  way,  with  a  brother-in-law  who  had  preceded 
liim  to  Falmouth,  the  tanning  business,  his  leisure 
time  in  the  winter  being  employed  in  teaching  school. 

A  few  rods  south,  on  the  Portland  side  of  the  river, 
in  full  view  of  the  home  my  father  had  chosen,  stood 
at  that  time  a  Friends'  meeting-house.  Long  ago  it 
was  taken  down,  but  it  survived  until  my  day,  and 
there,  in  my  boyhood,  I  frequently  attended  with  my 
parents  the  Friends'  quarterly  meetings.  Its  site  is 
still  plainly  indicated  by  grass-grown  ridges,  while 
numerous  neglected  mounds  and  hillocks,  in  some 
instances  marked  with  i)lain,  uninscribed  field  stones, 
show  the  last  resting-places  of  the  earlier  Quakers 
of  that  vicinity,  among  them  my  ancestors  on  my 
mother's  side  for  three  generations. 

In  that  old  meeting-house,  or  possibly  in  school  as 
one  of  his  scholars,  for  she  was  seven  years  his  junior, 
ray  father  first  met  my  mother.  However  that  may 
be,  soon  after  he  came  to  Falmouth  he  made  her 
accjuaintance.  Her  family,  well-to-do  members  of  the 
society  of  Friends,  lived  in  a  liouse  not  a  mile  away  as 
■Hie  crow  flies,  and  in  lull  \  lew  of  that  Avhere  my 
father  lived.     That  old  mausiou  at  tliis  writing  is  still 


OF    NEAL    DOAV  15 

standing',  tliougli  somewliat  modernized.  It  i«  near 
the  Maine  Central  depot  at  West  Falmouth,  and  is 
now  the  home  of  Josiah  Allen,  a  descendant  in  the 
fourth  generation  from  my  grandfather,  Isaac  Allen. 

Of  this  grandfather  I  remember  but  little,  except 
that  he  was  fond  of  telling  me  stories,  and  of  his 
parents  I  know  nothing.  He  died  when  I  was  not 
more  than  fifteen  years  old.  I  recall  him  as  a  man  of 
slight  physique,  and  apparently  not  in  rugged  health. 
I  remember  to  have  seen  him  at  my  father's  house  at 
dinner  as  well  as  at  his  own  fireside.  He  wore  knee 
breeches,  and,  after  the  manner  of  the  early  Friends, 
sat  with  his  hat  on  at  the  table,  its  broad  brim  entirely 
concealing  his  face  as  his  head  would  be  occasionally 
bowed. 

When  I  knew  him.  Grandfather  Allen  was  a  Quak- 
er, and,  as  far  as  I  have  any  positive  information  to 
the  contrary,  may  have  been  born  and  always  lived 
such.  But  in  my  early  youth  I  was  told  that  he  was 
once  "a  man  of  carnal  warfare."  He  may  have  told 
me  so  himself,  I  am  not  sure.  I  remember,  however, 
distinctly,  that  he  told  me  stories  about  his  having 
seen  many  ships  with  many  soldiers  on  them.  Since 
then,  by  putting  together  the  fragments  of  my  dim 
recollection  of  his  anecdotes,  I  have  thought  that  he 
may  have  been  at  one  or  the  other  of  the  sieges  of 
Louisburg,  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  verify  this. 
If  such  were  the  fact,  it  was  not  one  of  Avhich  a 
Quaker  of  the  time  of  my  boyhood  would  have  spoken 
save  in  terms  of  regret  and  repentance,  and  no  mem- 
ber of  a  Quaker  family  of  the  ])eriod  would  have  more 
willingly  preserved  data  of  that  than  of  any  otlier 
sinning. 

Mv  mother's  mother  was  Abigail  Hall.       She  was 


16  KEMIXISCENCES 

a  descendant,  tlirougli  her  father,  Hate-Evil  Hall,  of 
John  Hall,  who,  born  in  England  in  1617,  came  to 
]S'ew  England,  lived  for  a  while  in  Charle^^town, 
Mass.,  and  in  1084  removed  to  Dover,  N.  H.  He  died 
about  1690;  He  was  a  man  of  some  importance  and 
influence  in  his  day.  His  oldest  son,  John,  my 
ancestor,  was  born  in  Charlestown,  in  1645.  He  kept 
a  tavern  for  a  while  at  Dover,  and  was  repeatedly  a 
member  of  the  New  Hampshire  legislature.  He  mar- 
ried Abigail,  daughter  of  John  and  Abigail  (Nutter) 
Eoberts,  her  mother  being  a  daughter  of  Elder  Hate- 
Evil  Nutter. 

Hate-Evil  Hall,  my  mother's  maternal  grandfather, 
was  born  in  Dover,  February  15,  1707,  and  married 
Sarah  Furbish  of  Kittery,  April  1,  1738.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  physical  and  mental  vigor.  He  moved 
from  Dover,  N.  H.,  to  Falmouth,  Me.,  somewhere 
about  1753-54,  and  located  on  a  farm,  quite  recently 
owned  and  occupied  by  the  venerable  John  Wood- 
bury, at  the  northerly  end  of  the  road  called  ' '  Shady 
Lane,"  which  winds  with  charming  variety  of  curve 
and  view  around  the  easterly  base  of  Blackstrap  Hill. 
There  Hate-Evil  built  his  modest  home  and  reared  a 
large  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  twelve  of  whom 
married,  each  becoming  the  parent  of  from  nine  to 
twelve  children.  He  died  in  1797,  at  the  age  of 
ninety,  leaving  four  hundred  and  ninety-five  descend- 
ants, the  progenitors  of  some  of  the  most  thrifty, 
respectable,  and  influential  citizens  of  western  Maine. 

I  remember  a  visit  I  made  as  a  boy  to  the  house  in 
which  Hate-Evil  had  lived.  A  relative  of  the  family 
had  come  to  my  father's  home,  and,  wishing  to  send  a 
note  to  the  old  homestead,  offered  to  ])ay  me  for  car- 
rying it.     I  was  a  small  boy,  too  small,    it  now  seems 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  17 

to  me,  to  be  trusted  alone  and  on  foot  on  so  long  a 
tramp  in  the  winter,  but  more  was  expected  of  boys 
then,  as  money  was  scarcer  with  them  than  now,  and 
I  was  anxious  to  earn  the  sum  offered. 

On  the  way  I  was  overtaken  by  a  man  in  a  sleigh, 
who  took  me  in  to  ride.  When  we  reached  Shaw's, 
now  Allen's,  corner,  he  stopped  at  a  store,  I  waiting 
outside.  After  what  seemed  to  me  a  long  time,  I 
looked  in,  to  find  him  with  others  before  a  great  open 
fire,  drinking  flip,  a  mixture  of  cider  and  other  bever- 
ages heated  in  a  mug  by  the  insertion  of  a  hot  poker. 
I  had  already  lost  much  time,  and  so  took  my  way  on 
foot  and  delivered  my  note.  Reaching  home  long 
after  dark,  I  found  my  mother  alarmed  by  my  delay, 
but  I  received  for  my  service  seventy-five  cents,  which 
to  me  was  a  fortune  with  which  I  was  highly  elated. 

The  fifth  of  Hate-Evil's  children,  Abigail,  was  my 
•grandmother.  She  was  born  February  12,  1740,  and 
died  February  12,  1825,  aged  eighty-five.  I  remember 
her  well  as  the  kind  donor  to  me,  in  my  early  youth, 
of  nut-cakes,  when  I  was  at  her  house,  to  which  I  was 
wont  to  go  on  errands,  sometimes  riding  with  my 
mother,  and  sometimes  walking,  though  more  than 
eight  miles  by  the  road  I  was  obliged  to  travel.  On 
these  occasions  my  mother  would  fit  me  out  with 
clean  collar  and  my  best  shoes  and  stockings,  all  of 
which  I  was  wont  to  remove  as  soon  as  I  had  got 
out  of  the  village,  as  Portland  was  then  known,  to 
replace  them  when  within  a  few  yards  of  grand- 
mother's home. 

She  lived  until  I  was  about  twenty-one,  and  I  fre- 
quently visited  her  in  my  later  teens.  She  was  a 
woman  of  strong  mental  characteristics.  Perhaps  my 
lifelong  abhorrence  of  tobacco  is  due  in  part  to  the 


18  EEMIXISCENCES 

fact  that  I  often  saw  lier  smoking  in  the  chimney 
corner,  as  was  the  custom  of  many  of  the  older 
women  of  her  time.  The  sixth  of  the  seven  children 
of  Isaac  and  Abigail  (Hall)  Allen  was  Dorcas,  my 
mother.     She  was  born  August  28,  1773. 

Six  years  after  my  father's  arrival  in  Falmouth, 
when  he  had  accumulated  some  property,  he  was 
married  according  to  the  simple  and  impressive  cere- 
mony of  the  Friends.  The  event  took  place  on  the  3d 
of  February,  179(),  in  the  old  meeting-house  before 
referred  to,  which  both  had  been  accustomed  to 
attend. 

It  was  usual  among  the  Friends  on  the  occasion 
of  a  marriage  between  members  of  the  society,  to  hold 
a  solemn  meeting  where  there  might  be  prayer  or 
exhortation  if  any  one  was  moved  thereto,  and  where, 
after  a  fitting  season  of  silent  worship,  the  parties 
arose,  faced  the  audience,  and  made  each  of  them  a 
declaration  which  was  recorded  in  the  certificate  of 
marriage,  and  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  meet- 
ing. Such  a  certificate,  not  common  now,  may  be  of 
interest,  and  that  of  my  parents  is  here  introduced: 

"  Josiah  Dow,  of  Falmouth,  in  the  county  of  Cumberland 
and  state  of  Maine,  son  of  Jedediah  Dow,  of  Weare,  in  the 
county  of  IIillsl)orough  and  state  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
Dorcas  liis  wife,  and  Dorcas  Allen,  daughter  of  Isaac  Allen, 
of  Falmouth,  in  the  county  of  Cuml)erland  aforesaid,  and 
Al)igail  his  wife,  having  declared  their  intentions  of  taking 
each  other  in  marriage  l)efore  several  monthly  meetings  of 
the  people  called  '(Quakers',  in  the  count}^  of  Cumberland 
aforesaid,  according  to  the  good  order  used  among  them, 
their  proceedings,  after  due  inquiry  and  deliberate  considera- 
tion thereof,  were  allowed  l)y  said  meeting,  they  appearing 
clear  of  all  others  and  liaviiig  consent  of  })arents  and  relations 
concerned. 

"Now  these  arc  to  certify  to  whcjm  it  may  concern,  ))eing 
the  full  accomplishing  of  their  said  intentions,  this  third  day 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  V<) 

of  the  second  month  in  the  Year  of  Our  Lord,  179G,  tluit 
they,  the  said  Josiah  Dow  and  Dorcas  Allen,  appeared  at  a 
l)u])lic  meeting  of  the  aforesaid  people  in  their  meeting-house 
in  Falmouth  aforesaid,  and  each,  the  said  Josiah  Dow  taking 
the  said  Dorcas  Allen  by  the  hand,  did  openly  declare  as 
foUowcth  : 

'"Friends,  I  take  this  Friend,  Dorcas  Allen,  to  be  my 
wife,  promising  with  divine  assistance  to  be  unto  her  a  loving 
and  faithful  husband  until  it  shall  please  the  Lord  by  death  to 
separate  us.' 

"  And  the  said  Dorcas  Allen  then  and  there  in  like  manner 
did  declare  as  followeth  : 

"'Friends,  I  take  this  my  friend,  Josiah  Dow,  to  be  my 
husband,  promising  through  divine  assistance  to  l)e  unto  him 
a  loving  and  faithful  wife  until  it  shall  please  the  Lord  ])y 
death  to  separate  us,'  or  words  of  like  import. 

"  And  the  said  Josiah  Dow  and  Dorcas  Allen  as  of  further 
confirmation  hereof  have  hereunto  set  their  hands,  she,  after 
the  custom  of  marriage,  assuming  the  name  of  her  husband. 
And  we  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed,  being  present 
with  others  at  the  confirmation  of  their  said  marriage  as 
witnesses  thereunto,  set  our  hands  the  day  and  year  above 
written." 

Then  followed  the  signatures  of  twenty-five  wit- 
nesses, including  Hate-Evil  Hall,  then  nearly  ninety 
years  of  age,  and  other  relatives,  among  them  those  of 
men  and  women  active  and  influential  in  those  days 
in  all  good  works. 

Upon  their  marriage  my  parents  moved  to  Portland 
and  commenced  housekeeping  in  a  house  bought  l)y 
my  father  on  Congress  street,  near  Green,  on  the  site 
where  now  stands  a  store,  still  owned  in  the  famil.\'. 
My  father  continued  the  tanning  business  in  Portland. 
Beginning  in  a  modest  way,  my  parents  were  able, 
four  years  later,  with  increasing  means,  to  build  and 
move  into  a  more  comfortable  house,  in  which  they 
passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives. 

There  were  born  to  them  three  children,  the  eldest, 


20  REMINISCENCES 

my  sister  Emma,  in  1800,  the  youngest,  Harriet,  in 
180(3,  and  I  in  1804.  Thougli  of  comparatively  delicate 
liealtli,  Emma  was  a  woman  of  unusual  ability  and  of 
marked  strength  of  character.  She  married  Neal  D. 
Shaw,  of  Baring,  Me.  She  died  in  1851.  My  sister 
Harriet  was  an  invalid  from  early  youth  to  her  death, 
in  1869,  but  her  trials  were  borne  with  patience  and 
resignation  until  relief  came.  Notwithstanding  her 
ill  health,  she  was  bright,  witty,  accomplished,  and  a 
general  favorite  with  a  large  circle  of  friends.  It  was 
her  will  which  decided  in  a  family  council  that  no 
wine  should  be  offered  at  a  contemplated  entertain- 
ment, the  first  in  our  set  given  in  Portland  without  it. 
It  was  an  incident,  which,  as  might  be  expected,  made 
much  talk  in  the  little  town  at  that  time. 

My  mother  was  of  slight  frame,  and  apparently  not 
strong,  but  she  was  blessed  with  good  health  until  her 
last  sickness.  She  died  July  8,  1851,  at  seventy-eight 
years  of  age.  A  few  years  before  her  death  she  met 
with  an  accident,  resulting  in  a  broken  hip  and  other 
injuries,  and  she  was  thereafter  a  great  sufferer,  but 
she  bore  all  with  heroic  fortitude  and  Christian 
patience.  She  was  for  her  time  well  educated,  fond  of 
reading,  possessed  of  strong  common-sense  and  sound 
judgment.  She  was  a  trusting.  Christian  woman, 
self-reliant  and  determined  in  all  that  she  believed  to 
be  right,  impressing  her  character  upon  those  with 
whom  she  came  in  contact.  For  more  than  half  a 
century  she  proved  to  my  father  a  faithful  wife  and 
helpmeet,  a  wise  counselor  and  trusted  friend. 

Two  of  my  father's  brothers,  Jedediah  and  Jona- 
than, followed  him  to  Portland.  Jedediah  was  for 
several  years  in  the  town  and  city  government,  and 
prominent  generally  in  the  affairs  of  the  community. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  21 

Jonathan  was  a  sea-captain  for  years,  but  afterwards 
settled  down  to  life  on  shore.  He  was  the  second 
mayor  of  Portland,  was  a  man  of  some  literary  taste 
and  ability,  and  wrote  the  earlier  chapters  of  the 
"Jack  Downing  Papers,"  a  book  which  was  published 
under  the  name  of  Seba  Smith,  as  its  responsible 
author,  but  the  title  given  to  it  came  from  my  uncle's 
name.  I  remember  copying  the  first  of  the  articles  for 
my  uncle,  at  his  request,  because,  as  he  said,  he  did 
not  care  to  have  his  handwriting  seen  by  the  jjrinter. 

Uncle  Jonathan  was  a  most  positive  and  determined 
man.  An  incident  of  his  boyhood  may  illustrate  a 
trait  which  he  retained  through  life.  He  had  been 
sent  on  an  errand  which  had  detained  him  after  dark, 
and  his  path  home  led  him  through  the  woods.  His 
brother  Jedediah,  older  than  Jonathan,  thought  to 
frighten  the  lad,  and  for  the  purpose  prepared  a 
pumpkin  shell,  with  eyes,  mouth,  teeth,  etc.,  and 
with  that  on  his  head,  and  otherwise  disguised,  he 
placed  himself  where  he  could  intercept  Jonathan  in 
the  lonely  woods,  expecting  the  latter  to  turn  and 
run.  Instead,  however,  of  the  expected  retreat, 
when  he  saw  the  grinning  spectre,  Jonathan  provided 
himself  with  a  stone,  walked  up  to  it,  smashed  it  with 
one  blow,  and  with  a  second  gave  his  brother  Jede- 
diah, whom  he  did  not  recognize,  cause  to  remember 
the  affair  through  a  scar  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

Father  retained  his  interest  in  his  chosen  business 
as  long  as  he  lived.  In  it  he  accumulated  a  compe- 
tence sufficient  for  all  his  wants  and  tastes.  His 
judgment  in  matters  of  business  was  sound,  and  often 
sought  by  his  townsmen.  He  was  for  many  years, 
from  its  incorporation  in  1824,  a  director  in  the  Mer- 
chants' bank  in  this  city,  resigning  the  position  when 


22  '  REMINISCENCES 

the  infirmities  of  age  made  it  impracticable  for  liim  to 
attend  to  its  duties.  He  ^vas  also  in  tlie  directorate 
of  other  business  corporations. 

Necessarily  some^Yhat  isolated  during  the  latter 
part  of  his  life,  because  of  his  age,  he  nevertheless 
retained  his  interest  in  current  events  until  within  a 
few  weeks  of  his  death.  Put  in  possession  of  the  facts 
bearing  ui)on  any  given  business  problem,  he  drew  his 
conclusions  from  them  clearly  and  with  sound  judg- 
ment almost  to  the  last.  He  held  some  offices, 
accepted  from  a  sense  of  duty  as  burdens  of  which  he 
should  bear  his  part  rather  than  from  any  desire  for 
place  or  notoriety,  to  which  he  was  always  averse. 
He  always  took  interest  in  political  matters,  voted  at 
every  presidential  election,  and  I  believe  at  all  others, 
down  to  the  first  election  of  Lincoln.  In  his  party 
affiliations  he  was  in  turn  Federalist,  National  Repub- 
lican, Whig,  Free-Soiler,  and  Repul^lican. 

He  was  an  earnest  antislavery  man  and  was  actively 
interested  in  the  "underground  railroad,"  by  means 
of  which  fugitive  slaves,  not  a  few  of  whom  reached 
Portland  in  vessels  from  southern  ports  and  other- 
wise, were  taken  to  ])oints  where  they  were  not  likely 
to  be  captured.  His  home  was  always  an  asylum  for 
such  of  them  as  needed  food  and  temporary  shelter 
while  waiting  to  be  escorted  farther  toward  the  north 
star  of  freedom.  During  my  l^oyhood  I  saw  several  of 
these  escaped  negro  bondsmen.  Tliey  were  naturally 
among  the  more  intelligent  of  their  race. 

One  negro  girl,  two  or  three  years  my  senior,  came 
to  our  house  when  I  was  not  far  from  fourteen 
years  of  age.  She  had  been  brought  to  Portland  in 
a  ship  connnanded  by  an  antislavery  captain,  having 
escaped  from  a  plantation  in  the  vicinity  of  Rich- 


or   NEAL   DOW.  23 

mond.  Slie  remained  at  my  father's  house  for  several 
years,  acquiring  something  of  an  education,  and  after- 
wards she  married  and  lived  in  Portland  for  the  rest 
of  her  life,  dying  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion. 

She  vras  bright  and  intelligent,  and  became  unus- 
ually well  informed.  She  had  given  her  promise  to 
the  captain  who  had  brought  her  to  Portland  never  to 
reveal  either  his  name  or  that  of  his  ship,  a  pledge 
which  she  kept  until  her  dying  day.  Certain  it  is, 
that,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  member  of  our  family  ever 
learned  either.'  As  advised  by  the  friendly  captain, 
also,  she  concealed  the  name  of  her  old  inaster,  lest 
its  disclosure  might  tend  to  her  recapture.  This 
advice  she  kept,  as  I  believe,  until  after  the  proclama- 
tion of  freedom  l)y  President  Lincoln,  l)ut  shortly 
after  that  she  called  at  my  house  and  told  my  family 
the  name  of  her  old  master.  It  was  the  same  name  as 
that  of  the  father  (she  insisted  that  they  were  one  and 
the  same  person)  of  Captain  Turner,  the  commandant 
at  Libby  Prison,  where,  a  few  months  thereafter,  I 
was  to  be  confined  a  prisoner  of  war,  a  war  which  in 
effect  was  waged  to  free  the  slaves.  So,  if  her  state- 
ment was  correct,  it  came  to  pass  that  the  son  of  the 
man  who  had  given  this  poor  negro  girl  a  home  in  a 
free  land  was  for  months  a  prisoner  under  the  guard 
of  a  son  of  her  old  master. 

My  father,  though  by  no  means  a  literary  man,  was 
yet  well-read.  His  favorite  works  were  the  Bible, 
Shakespeare,  and  Pope's  Essay  on  Man.  AVith  these 
he  was  thoroughly  familiar  and  always  ready  with  apt 
quotations  from  either.  He  was  clear,  concise,  and 
strong  in  conversation,  and  quick  and  bright  at 
repartee. 


24  REMINISCENCES 

One  day  when  over  ninety  years  old  lie  offered,  in 
the  temporary  absence  of  the  teamster,  to  drive  in  an 
ordinary  express  vragon  to  a  mill  at  Strondwater, 
some  two  miles  from  his  home,  to  obtain  meal  in  bags 
for  his  horses.  While  returning  v^^ith  his  load,  the 
seat  of  his  wagon  slipped  off  at  one  side,  with  the 
result  that  he  fell  on  his  back  on  the  meal  bags,  from 
which  position,  owing  to  his  lameness,  he  could  not 
recover  his  seat.  His  horse  was  an  old  and  steady 
animal,  of  which  I  may  yet  have  occasion  to  relate  an 
incident. 

Some  passer-]:)y,  seeing  him  in  this  predicament, 
stopped  the  horse,  readjusted  the  wagon  seat,  and 
helped  him, on  to  it.  Not  recognizing  him,  whitened 
all  over  with  meal  dust  as  he  was,  he  said  to  him: 

"It  is  a  pity  that  you  should  get  so  drunk  as  to  be 
unable  to  sit  uix" 

"Drunk!"  replied  my  father,  "If  when  thou  art 
my  age  thou  canst  sit  up,  whether  drunk  or  sober, 
thou  wilt  be  smarter  than  I  think  for. " 

The  kind  Samaritan,  then  recognizing  him,  apolo- 
gized for  his  suspicion,  came  to  my  house,  told  of  the 
incident,  and  so  it  reached  me. 

"When  the  troubles  following  upon  the  election  of 
Lincoln,  in  November,  1860,  occurred,  father  was  over 
ninety-four  years  of  age.  He  denounced  Avhat  he 
called  "the  imbecility  of  the  administration," 
insisted  that  the  president  was  too  old,  and  con- 
demned in  strongest  terms  the  policy  which  permitted 
insurgents  to  erect  batteries  around  Fort  Sumter. 
One  day  while  lie  was  talking  upon  this  subject,  liis 
housekeeper,  interrupting  him,  said: 

"Why,  grandfather,  Avitli  thy  peace  principles  thou 
wouldst  not  have  them  fire  shot  and  shell  at  tliem  ?  " 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  25 

"Well,"  he  replied  with  a  Hiiiile,  "  perhaps  I  would 
try  first  the  effect  of  some  hot  water,  but  I  would  heat 
it  very  hot,"  a  remark  which  showed  that  the  intensity 
of  the  patriotic  feelin,^-  at  the  North  had  affected  even 
the  most  peaceful  and  aged  Quakers  quite  as  much  as 
it  evidenced  his  ready  wit. 

He  was  a  remarkably  vigorous,  active,  and  athletic 
man.  I  remember  to  have  seen  him  climb,  hand  over 
hand,  by  the  aid  of  the  waterspout,  to  the  roof  of  a 
two-story  building,  (one  by  the  way  in  which  resided 
the  father  of  Simon  Greenleaf,  known  to  lawyers  the 
world  over,)  taking  with  him  a  rope,  the  occasion 
being  a  fire  on  the  roof,  with  no  scuttle  or  ladder  by 
which  to  reach  it. 

With  his  physical  strength  father  possessed  also  a 
strong  will  and  great  self-control.  One  day  he  was 
assaulted  by  a  man  in  his  employ  whom  he  had  just 
discharged  for  some  neglect  of  duty.  The  man  struck 
him,  and  father  took  him  by  the  collar,  backed  him 
into  a  corner  and  held  him  there,  in  spite  of  the 
fellow's  struggles,  without  striking  him  or  otherwise 
injuring  him,  though  he  himself  received  repeated 
blows,  until  the  man  was  tired  out,  begged  pardon, 
and  promised  better  fashions. 

My  grandfather  had  had  some  cancerous  trouble 
about  the  mouth,  and  when  father  was  a  young  man 
he  had  what  was  thought  to  be  a  slight  indication  of 
the  same  trouble,  and  a  physician  advised  him  to  chew 
tobacco  as  a  preventive.  He  was  about  twenty-two  at 
the  time,  and  continued  the  habit  of  chewing  until 
after  he  was  seventy  years  old,  when  one  day  mother 
called  his  attention  to  a  tobacco  stain  upon  the  bosom 
of  his  shirt,  and  father,  removing  the  tobacco  from  his 
mouth  and  pocket,   said  he    would  use  the   "nasty 


26  REMINISCENCES 

stuff  "  no  more.  And  lie  never  did.  Habitual  users 
of  the  weed  can  appreciate  the  will  power  required  for 
that  reform  better  than  those  of  us  who  have  had  no 
similar  experience. 

My  father  died  on  the  first  day  of  June,  1861,  at  the 
age  of  ninety-four  years  and  nine  months.  In  all  his 
life  neither  his  personal  character  nor  his  business 
integrity  was  ever  questioned  by  so  much  as  a  breath 
of  suspicion.  He  had  always  possessed  sound  health, 
but  after  he  was  eighty  years  of  age  he  fell  on  the  ice 
ancj  broke  a  hip,  and  he  was  confined  for  several 
months  to  his  bed,  and  never  so  far  recovered  as  to  be 
able  to  walk  without  lameness,  though  long  after  this 
he  was  about,  attending  to  ordinary  affairs. 

For  two  months  prior  to  his  death  he  lingered  on  the 
outermost  verge  of  time,  seeming  every  day  on  the 
point  of  passing  away.  He  had  no  disease,  but  the 
lamp  of  life,  exhausted  of  its  oil,  simply  ceased  to 
burn.  He  was  always  cheerful  and  hapi^y,  though 
weary  with  the  burden  of  his  years,  and  longing  to  be 
at  rest,  but  willing  and  trying  patiently  to  await 
God's  good  time  to  call  him  hence. 

No  more  loving  father,  no  more  upright  and  honor- 
able man,  or  truer  Christian  and  patriot,  ever  lived. 
A  Friend,  descended  from  a  long  line  of  Friends,  his 
life  always  conformed  to  their  rules,  which  treat 
this  world  as  a  vestil)ule  to  a  future  life.  He  never 
for  a  moment  wavered  in  his  fidelity  to  truth,  and  the 
consistency  of  his  life  and  conversation  was  entirely 
without  stain.  The  following  paragraph  is  taken  from 
a  notice  of  him  pul^lished  Just  after  his  death  in  the 
columns  of  a  local  ne\vspai)er.  It  was  written  by  the 
late  Hon.  William  Willis: 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  Ii7 

"  Firm  in  principle,  just  and  liberal  in  all  his  transactions, 
he  may  be  pronounced  one  of  nature's  true  noblemen,  an 
honest  man.  He  never  soui^ht  notoriety,  nor  desired  public 
office.  Although  he  represented  the  town  one  year  in  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  one  year  a  selectman, 
he  preferred  the  quiet  pursuit  of  his  honorable  calling  to  the 
agitation  and  turmoil  of  public  office.  'Along  the  cool, 
sequestered  vale  of  life,  he  kept  the  noiseless  tenor  of  his 
way.'  " 


CHAPTER  II. 


MY   BIRTH,    BOYHOOD,    SCHOOL   DAYS.        SOME   REFERENCE   TO 
EARLY    PORTLAND. 


I  was  born  in  Portland,  March  20,  1804,  in  the  house 
mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter,  where  my  parents 
passed  the  greater  portion  of  their  lives,  and  in  which 
they  died.  That  house  is  still  standing,  on  Congress 
street,  opposite  my  present  residence,  though  materi- 
ally changed  in  outward  appearance  and  internal 
arrangement. 

I  come  of  a  long-lived,  healthy  family.  My  father 
was  sick  scarcely  a  day  in  his  life  of  nearly  ninety-five 
years.  His  father  lived  to  be  eighty-five,  his  grand- 
fatlier  on  his  motlier's  side  to  a  very  advanced  age, 
and  his  grandmother  died  at  one  hundred  and  two,  in 
full  possession  of  all  her  mental  powers,  and  active  up 
to  the  day  of  her  death,  as  I  have  been  told.  On  my 
motlier's  side  my  grandmotlier  reached  eighty-five, 
while  her  grandfather,  my  great-grandfather,  lived  to 
be  over  ninety.  They  were  all  Quakers.  Industry, 
frugality,  and  temjjerance,  through  several  genera- 
tions, distinctly  imjjressed  their  effect  ujx)!!  the 
physical  characteristics  of  the  family. 


Il^^^^, 


\ 


REMINISCENCES    OF    NEAL    DOW.  ■     29 

Years  ago,  before  I  had  taken  any  special  interest  in 
the  subject  of  temperance,  I  saw  an  extract  purport- 
ing to  have  been  taken  from  the  ''Medical  Intelli- 
gencer,'' an  English  ])ulilication,  I  believe,  in  which 
it  was  stated  that  the  Friends'  registers  of  vital 
statistics  in  London  showed  that  one  in  every  ten 
Quakers  lived  to  be  seventy  years  old,  while  of  the 
general  population  of  London  but  one  in  fifty 
attained  that  age.  This  great  advantage  in  i)oint  of 
longevity  enjoyed  by  the  Quakers  was  attril)uted  to 
their  temperate  mode  of  life. 

What  is  of  more  importance  yet  —  as  quality  of  life 
is  of  more  value  than  length  —  the  Quakers  as  a  whole 
gave  little  employment  to  courts,  constables  or  coro- 
ners. Somewhere  in  the  early  "thirties"!  heard 
Chief  Justice  Mellen,  of  Maine,  say  that,  in  an 
experience  of  more  than  forty-five  years  on  the  bench 
and  in  practice  at  the  bar,  he  had  known  of  but  one 
Quaker  brought  to  the  criminal  side  of  the  court. 

Inheriting  a  tendency  to  longevity,  and  a  good  con- 
stitution, I  had  ro])ust  health,  improved  by  great 
bodily  activity,  and  ^stimulated  by  a  fondness  for  all 
reasonable  athletic  exercises,  in  which,  as  a  boy,  I  was 
generally  equal  to  my  school-fellows  and  later,  to  the 
young  men  of  my  acquaintance.  While  my  early 
home  was  supplied  with  all  the  necessities  and  essen- 
tial comforts  of  life,  there  was  neither  in  it  nor  in  the 
mode  of  living  there  excess  or  luxury  which  might 
tend  to  impair  my  heritage  of  physical  strength. 

My  earliest  recollection  is  of  strict,  though  kindly, 
discipline.  Never,  so  far  as  I  can  recall,  irritable, 
excitable  or  impatient  with  me,  my  parents  were 
prompt,  positive  and  firm  in  the  correction  of  misdo- 
ing.    An  instance  or  two  will  illustrate  my  ' '  bringing 


30  REMINISCENCES 

up  ■'  ill  this  particular.  One  of  my  remembrances  is  of 
an  experience  doubtless  of  benefit  to  me.  When  a 
visiting  seamstress,  "Aunt  Lucy,"  was  making  my 
first  "trousers,"  I  was  anxious  that  there  should  be 
two  pockets,  but  my  mother  decided  that  one  would 
be  sufficient.  When  the  garment  was  finished  I  so 
manifested  my  dissatisfaction  upon  this  point  as  to 
merit  and  receive  a  rebuke  from  my  mother.  As  that 
did  not  stop  my  complaining,  she  quietly  said,  "Lucy, 
thou  niayest  sew  up  the  pocket  thou  hast  made." 
There  was  no  appeal. 

One  of  my  playmates  had  induced  me  to  purchase  of 
him,  for  three  or  four  coppers  I  had  saved,  a  whistle 
he  had  whittled  out  of  a  piece  of  willow  wood.  My 
incessant  whistling  led  to  inquiries  by  my  father,  who, 
having  shown  me  how  simple  was  the  process  of 
making  a  whistle,  added:  "Neal,  I  am  afraid  that 
thou  wilt  come  out  of  the  little  end  of  the  horn  if  thou 
spendest  thy  money  so  foolishly."  I  replied:  "I'd 
rather  come  out  of  the  little  end  than  stick  in  the 
middle. " 

The  prompt  confiscation  of  the  whistle  fixed  in  my 
memory  the  parental  admonition  that  children  should 
always  be  respectful  to  their  parents.  This  incident 
was  called  to  my  mind  years  afterwards  by  my  father, 
who,  when  over  ninety,  laughingly  said  when  I  told 
him  of  my  determination  to  accept  an  invitation  I  had 
received  to  make  a  speaking  tour  in  Great  Britain: 
"I  am  afraid,  Neal,  that  thou  wilt  make  as  much 
noise  in  the  world  as  tlioii  didst  with  the  whistle  I 
took  from  thee. " 

Idleness  was  regarded  b.\'  my  i)arents  as  a  dangerous 
evil  and  a  sin  against  one's  self,  and  I  was  brought  up 
to  look  ui)on  useful  employment  as  not  only  tributary 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  31 

to  health  and  strength,  but  as  a  divinely  appointed 
safeguard  from  many  otherwise  inevitable  misfortunes. 
There  were  many  ways  in  which  a  ])oy  aliout  a  New 
England  home  of  my  time,  in  such  a  community  as 
Portland  then  was,  could  make  himself  useful.  My 
parents  sought  to  guard  me  from  the  mischief,  which, 
as  I  was  made  to  believe,  ' '  Satan  always  finds  for  idle 
hands  to  do."  If  I  ever  had  any  natural  disinclination 
to  be  usefully  employed,  parental  training  soon  cor- 
rected it. 

As  soon  as  I  was  old  enough  I  went  to  a  "  dame's  " 
school,  as  those  taught  by  women  were  then  called.  I 
remember  it  and  my  teacher  well.  The  school  was 
kept  but  a  few  rods  from  my  father's  house,  in  a  room 
in  a  large,  two-story  house,  at  the  corner  of  Congress 
and  Vaughan  streets,  where  now  stands  the  Eye  and 
Ear  Infirmary. 

Two  roads  crossed  there,  making  the  traditional 
spot  for  the  burial  of  suicides,  and  every  youngster  in 
that  school  was  wont  to  look  with  awe  at  a  great  stone 
said  to  mark  the  particular  place  where  had  been 
buried  years  before  a  man  who  had  taken  his  own  life. 
Whether  there  was  any  foundation  for  the  tale,  I  do 
not  say,  but  it  was  real  enough  to  make  the  place  a 
gruesome  one  to  all  "Aunt  Phebe's  "  scholars. 

My  next  school  was  also  a  ' '  dame's, "  on  Congress 
street,  nearly  opposite  the  head  of  Green  street.  There 
I  was  advanced  to  reading  in  words  of  two  syllables. 
From  that  I  was .  promoted  to  another,  kept  also  by  a 
"dame,"  at  the  corner  of  Congress  and  Pearl  streets, 
now  the  northwest  corner  of  Lincoln  Park.  In  this  I 
was  supposed  to  be  prepared  for  the  "  master's  "  school, 
which  I  next  attended,  taught  by  Master  Hall,  one  of 
the  large  and  prominent  family  of  Friends,  descend- 


32  EEMINISCEXCES 

ants  of  Hate-Evil  Hall,  previously  referred  to.  This 
school  was  located  on  Spring  street  in  a  large,  wooden 
schoolhouse  standing  on  the  spot  near  State  street, 
now  occupied  by  the  city  as  a  site  for  an  engine-house. 

That  was  a  pn]:>lic  school,  and  its  teacher  was  a 
famous  one  for  those  days.  He  "knew"  geography 
and  grammar,  and  taught  classes  of  older  pupils  in 
those  abstruse  and  difficult  branches  of  learning,  as 
they  were  considered  at  that  time.  The  scholars  Avho 
belonged  to  those  classes  were  proud,  and  would  hard- 
ly consent  to  speak  to  those  of  us  who  were  yet 
plodding  in  the  Columbian  Oracle,  and  Simple  Arith- 
metic, or  maybe  in  the  spelling-book,  where  we  read 
the  famous  parable  of  the  apple-tree,  the  naughty  boys 
and  the  tufts  of  grass  and  the  stones.  The  lessons  of 
that  parable  sank  deeply  into  the  minds  of  some  of  us 
who,  in  after  life,  while  dealing  with  what  we  deemed 
wrong,  forgot  the  turf  and  resorted  promptly  to  the 
stones. 

From  the  public  school  I  went  to  a  private  one  kept 
by  Master  Taylor,  the  father  of  the  Master  Taylor  so 
well  and  favorably  known  to  a  later  generation  of 
Portland  boys  as  a  teacher  of  the  public  Grammar 
school.  Master  Taylor  was  faithful  and  kind  to  all 
his  scholars,  but  dignified,  resolute  and  firm.  Under 
him,  all  who  loved  to  study,  and  I  was  one  of  them, 
made  rapid  jn'ogress.  His  words  of  encouragement  to 
his  industrious  pupils  were  a  stimulus  to  even  greater 
diligence  on  their  part.  This  school  was  kept  in  a 
wooden  building  on  Union  street,  often  used  also  by 
Master  Taylor  as  a  chapel  on  Sunday,  and  which  stood 
there  until  destroyed  by  the  great  fire  of  1866. 

Father  Taylor  lived  many  years,  honored  and  re- 
spected by  all  who  knew  him,  and  when  I  became  a 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  33 

man  lie  and  I  were  great  friends.  That  school  was  the 
private  school  of  the  time,  and  its  pupils  were  general- 
ly from  the  most  substantial  families  of  the  town. 
One  of  the  scholars,  Horatio  Illsley  by  name,  was  a 
general  favorite  with  us  all.  He  was  an  exceptionally 
active  boy,  but  while  attending  school  was  attacked 
by  a  disease  of  the  knee  which  made  amputation  of  the 
limb  necessary.  There  were  no  anesthetics  then,  and 
his  school-fellows  conceived  a  great  admiration  for 
him  because  he  suffered  the  operation  with  a  fortitude 
hardly  exceeded  by  the  stoicism  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indian,  insisting  upon  being  so  placed  as  to  be 
able  to  watch  the  surgeon.  He  became  a  Congregation- 
al minister,  highly  respected  by  all  his  acciuaintances. 
Years  afterwards,  when  settled  as  a  pastor  in  Illinois, 
his  house  was  swept  away  by  a  great  flood  in  the 
night,  while  all  of  his  family  were  sleeping.  Mr. 
Illsley,  who,  notwithstanding  his  physical  infirmity, 
was  an  expert  swimmer,  was  the  only  one  of  his  house- 
hold saved. 

From  Master  Taylor's  school  I  was  transferred  to 
the  Portland  Academy,  of  which  at  the  time  Master 
Cushman  was  principal,  and  to  which  came  pupils 
from  different  parts  of  the  state,  and  from  other  states. 
The  academy  building  was  on  Congress  street,  just 
east  of  Temple  street,  and  was  also  burned  in  1866. 

Master  Cushman  was  not  only  a  good  teacher  in  the 
branches  of  learning  with  which  his  scholars  were 
occupied,  but  by  his  deportment  as  a  polished  gentle- 
man so  influenced  them  that  I  do  not  remember  one 
of  them  who  was  vulgar,  rude  or  coarse. 

Among  his  pupils  at  the  time  were  Henry  W.  Long- 
fellow and  his  brother  Stephen,  Edward  Preble,  son 
of    the    famous    commodore,    William    Brown,    who 


34  KEMINISCENCES 

became  prominent  in  tlie  South,  Sumner  Cummings, 
afterwards;  one  of  Portland's  most  noted  pliysiciany, 
the  brothers  Erastus  and  James  Brooks,  prominent  in 
journalistic  and  political  circles  in  New  York,  besides 
others  who  became  distinguished  in  business  and 
professional  life. 

It  would  be  difficult  indeed  for  the  rising  generation 
of  to-day  in  any  ordinary  New  England  community, 
surrounded  by  the  conditions  generally  prevailing  in 
the  present,  to  conceive  of  those  marking  the  time  of 
my  boyhood,  in  the  town  where  I  was  brought  up. 
Maine  was  then,  compared  to  much  of  the  rest  of  New 
England,  a  new  country.  Most  of  the  people  in 
coming  to  Portland  from  the  surrounding  country 
rode  on  horseback.  Those  having  produce  to  sell 
brought  it  in  saddle-bags. 

Indeed,  most  of  us  who  had  occasion  to  go  out  of 
town,  except  upon  the  established  stage-roads,  found 
horseback  riding  the  easiest,  as  it  was  the  commonest, 
mode  of  travel.  Most  of  the  roads  off  the  main  east 
and  west  stage-lines  were  so  poor  as  to  be  impractica- 
ble for  light- wheeled  vehicles,  which,  for  that  matter, 
most  of  the  country-folk  were  too  i)Oor  to  own,  and 
others  who  might  perhaps  have  afforded  the  luxury 
debarred  themselves  therefrom  to  avoid  the  special 
war-tax  imposed  upon  thein  b>'  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment. Occasionally  were  to  be  seen  a  farmer  and 
his  wife  mounted  upon  the  same  horse,  the  woman  on 
a  pillion  l^ehind  the  saddle,  but  this  custom  passed  out 
while  I  was  cpiite  young. 

At  that  time  saddle-making  was  cjuite  an  industry  in 
Portland,  a  large  numl)er  of  men  being  employed  in  it. 
Seals  were  caught  in  great  numbers  in  Casco  bay  for 
their  skins,    which    were  used,  some    of    them,    for 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  35 

making  saddles  and  saddlebags,  and  others  by  the 
trunk  manufacturers. 

My  youthful  life  was  quite  like  that  of  all  boys  of 
the  time  born  into  fairly  c'omfortal3le  circumstances, 
with  a  parental  roof  for  shelter  and  firm  parental  dis- 
cipline and  care  for  a  guide.  One  incident  may  serve 
to  throw  some  light  upon  the  local  surroundings  of 
my  boyhood.  Ridiculous  as  it  was,  at  the  time  it  was 
a  serious  enough  affair  to  me  to  root  itself  deeply  in 
my  memory.  I  was  very  much,  or  not  much,  of  a 
youngster,  perhaps  seven  or  eight  years  old,  when  for 
some  reason  that  I  do  not  now  recollect,  I  found  my- 
self one  morning  in  a  barber's  shop  on  Fore  street, 
near  the  head  of  one  of  the  wharves.  In  a  yard 
connected  with  the  shop  was  a  large  monkey,  and 
some  of  the  loiterers  there  arranged  for  a  fight 
between  the  monkey  and  myself.  Not  old  enough  to 
realize  the  absurdity  of  such  a  match,  or  to  under- 
stand that  there  were  only  bites  and  scratches  to  be 
had,  and  no  good  of  any  kind,  or  even  so-called  honor, 
to  be  won  from  the  scrimmage,  I  permitted  myself  to 
be  armed  with  a  stout  stick  furnished  by  one  of  the 
men  and  entered  the  territory  where  the  monkey 
intended  to  be  supreme.  The  rest  of  the  affair  I 
remember  as  if  it  were  an  occurrence  of  yesterday. 

To  such  a  monkey  as  I  then  encountered,  it  is  wise 
to  give  a  wide  berth.  He  opened  the  fight  with  teeth 
and  claw,  jumping  at  my  face,  biting  at  me  and  tear- 
ing my  clothes  with  all  his  considerable  might.  I 
kept  him  in  front  of  me  as  well  as  I  could,  kicking 
and  striking  him  whenever  I  got  the  chance.  How 
long  the  folly  lasted  I  do  not  know.  For  what 
seemed  to  me  a  long  time  the  monkey  had  most  of  the 
fun  and  I  most  of  the  pain,  but  at  length  the  brute 


36  KEMINISCENCES 

got  tired  of  it  and  knew  enongli  to  give  np.  Corre- 
sponding intelligence  on  my  part  would  have  kept  me 
out  of  the  scrape  altogether. 

Before  I  had  thrashed  the  monkey  as  soundly  as  I 
wislied,  I  was  called  off,  and  came  out  of  the  yard 
Mtten,  scratched,  bloody  and  dirty  from  head  to  foot, 
and  with  clothes  torn,  but  I  was  so  petted  and 
rewarded  with  candy  and  round-cakes  by  the  rascally 
bystanders  who  had  put  me  up  to  the  light,  that  I 
imagined  myself  quite  a  hero  until,  taking  a  great 
deal  of  the  dirt,  some  of  the  blood,  and  all  of  the 
scratches  home  with  me,  I  found,  much  to  my  dis- 
comfort, that  my  parents  took  a  very  different  view  of 
the  affair  from  that  held  by  the  barber-shop  loafers. 

Parental  correction  and  parental  precepts  were  con- 
currently so  impressed  upon  my  body  and  mind  that 
from  that  time  I  never  saw  anything  to  admire  or  to 
interest  in  the  exhibition  of  mere  brute  strength  and 
courage.  A  very  ordinary  mule  can  kick  a  harder 
bloAv  than  the  toughest  bruiser  can  strike,  and  I  have 
never  been  able  to  account  for  the  interest  which 
men,  capable  of  higher  concerns,  sometimes  manifest 
in  that  kind  of  exhibition  and  rivalry  in  which  brutes 
of  a  lower  order,  and  inferior  ones  at  that,  could 
excel  them. 

When  I  was  four  or  five  years  of  age,  a  horse  at- 
tached to  a  wagon  came  up  the  street  near  my  father's 
house,  running  at  full  speed.  I  stepped  into  the  road- 
way in  his  path,  with  the  absurd  idea  of  stoi)ping  him. 
The  horse,  perhaps  out  of  i)ity  for  me,  turned  out, 
went  by,  and  I  escaped  unharmed.  More  than  fifty 
years  after  that  incident,  the  owner  of  that  horse, 
who  at  the  time  of  the  runaway  was  a  next  door 
neighbor  of  my  father,  was  living,  an  elderly  and 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  87 

retired  merchant,  in  Bot>ton.  In  that  city,  while  I 
was  at  the  South  during  the  war,  he  called  on  my 
wife,  who  happened  to  be  visiting  friends  there,  told 
her  of  the  above  incident,  which  had  entirely  escaped 
my  memory,  and  charged  her  to  write  and  remind  me 
of  it,  adding:  "Tell  him  that  I  say  that  that  act  of 
his  boyhood  foreshadowed  the  characteristics  of  his 
after  life.  " 

If  he  intended  that  for  a  compliment  it  was,  per- 
haps, to  my  supposed  pluck  at  the  expense  of  my 
judgment.  My  position  in  reference  to  the  liquor- 
traffic  has  been  deemed  by  many  considerate  people  as 
no  more  reasonable  than  was  my  stand  in  the  days  of 
my  untutored  babyhood  in  the  path  of  that  runaway 
horse.  I  have  not,  however,  allowed  myself  to  be 
concerned  as  to  what  others  may  have  thought  of  me. 
He  who  swerves  from  what  he  believes  to  be  his  duty, 
through  fear  of  the  ridicule  or  opposition  of  his 
neighbors,  can  accomplish  little  or  nothing. 

My  father  once  owned  an  old-fashioned  silver 
watch,  too  large  to  be  conveniently  carried,  which  he 
often  hung  on  a  hook  on  the  wall.  One  day,  when  a 
little  fellow,  I  climbed  into  a  chair  to  get  at  the  watch, 
tipped  the  chair  over,  pulled  the  watch  down,  which, 
falling  with  me  to  the  floor,  was  broken.  When 
reproved  for  meddling  with  the  timepiece,  I  urged 
upon  my  father  that  the  fault  was  altogether  with 
those  who  had  left  the  watch  within  my  reach. 
Years  afterwards,  in  relating  the  incident,  my  father 
would  laughingly  say  that  he  had  heard  me  make 
my  argument  for  Prohibition,  so  far  as  it  bore  upon 
the  removal  of  temptation,  before  I  was  six  years 
old. 

One  of  the  playmates  of  my  early  boyhood  had  a 


■38  REMINISCENCES 

distressing  experience  in  after  life.  He  became  a 
drinking-  man,  and  one  evening  "^lien  intoxicated  left 
a  rum.shoi)  in  company  ^Yitll  a  friend,  whose  dead 
body  was  found  tlie  next  morning  bearing  evidence  of 
foul  play.  My  wliilom  comi)anion  was  charged  with 
murder,  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  he  hung. 
A  peculiarity  of  our  statutes,  at  that  time  ])rescribing 
the  penalty  of  death,  left  the  time  for  the  execution  to 
be  fixed  at  the  pleasure  of  the  governor,  and  as  it  was 
rarely  pleasant  for  a  governor  to  participate  in  such 
an  affair,  hangings  were  seldom,  if  ever,  ordered,  and 
convicted  murderers  waited  in  prison  for  the  guberna- 
torial appointment  of  the  fatal  day. 

Years  after  the  sentence,  in  the  case  referred  to,  the 
rumseller,  from  whose  shoj)  the  victim  and  the  con- 
victed went  out  together  on  the  night  of  the  murder, 
was  seriously  ill,  and.  sending  for  a  clergyman,  con- 
fessed upon  his  death-bed  that  he  was  the  actual  mur- 
derer. The  outcome  was  a  speedy  pardon  of  the  poor 
fellow  who  might  have  ]3een  hung  for  the  deed. 
Broken  in  health  and  spirit,  he  came  out  into  the 
world  again,  with  no  legal  right  to  recompense  for 
his  lost  time  and  ruined  reputation  and  i^rospects,  and 
scarcely  thankful,  as  he  afterwards  told  me,  that  the 
execution  had  not  been  ordered  before  his  innocence 
was  established.  His  experience,  however,  thorough- 
ly sobered  him,  and  he  lived  thereafter  a  temperate 
life. 

When  seven  or  eight  years  old.  I  was  induced  by  a 
young  man  residing  in  the  vicinity  of  my  father's 
house  to  smoke  a  pii)e,  by  the  suggestion  that  I  never 
would  be  a  man  until  I  had  done  so.  After  keei)ing  at 
it  for  some  time,  I  was  made  so  desi)erately  sick  that  I 
abandoned  the  ijii)e.  and  witli  it  all  liopc  of  attaining 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  '^\) 

to  man's  estate.  But  the  effect  of  the  tobacco  upon 
me  was  such  that  from  that  day  to  this  I  have  not 
used  it  in  any  form,  the  memory  of  that  sickness 
restraining  me  until  I  was  okl  enough  to  appreciate 
and  to  be  controlled  by  higher  considerations. 

Portland,  as  a  part  of  the  town  of  Falmouth,  had 
borne  its  full  share  of  trials  incident  to  the  settle- 
ment of  a  new  country.  Twice  its  inhabitants,  or 
such  of  them  as  had  escaped  the  tomaliawk  and 
scalping  knife,  had  ])een  driven  away  and  the  hamlet 
blotted  out  in  the  Indian  wars.  In  1775,  it  was  bom- 
barded by  an  English  fleet,  and  more  than  four 
hundred  buildings  were  destroyed.  Shortly  after  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  war  it  was  set  off  from  Fal- 
mouth and  incorporated  under  its  present  name. 

At  the  time  of  my  earliest  recollection  of  Portland 
there  were  no  traces  remaining  that  I  now  recall  of  its 
bombardment,  but  as  a  commercial  town  it  suffered 
much  in  the  troubles  prior  to  and  during  the  war  of 
1812,  and  during  my  boyhood  had  not  recovered  from 
the  shock  to  its  business  enterprise  caused  there]:)y. 
Everything  was  on  a  small  scale,  and  the  i)eoi)le 
seemed  to  he  only  waiting  for  better  days.  Prior  to 
the  embargo,  its  shipping  had  been  valued  at  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half,  a  very  large  item  for  so  small  a  place, 
and  it  had  been  profitably  employed,  but  at  the  time 
of  which  I  am  writing  it  was  idle. 

Grass  literally  grew  upon  our  wharves,  and  in  one 
year  in  my  early  l^oyhood  soup  dinners  were  gratui- 
tously distributed  among  the  poor  of  the  town.  Its 
houses  were  mostly  small  and  unpretentious,  though 
there  are  even  now  in  Portland  some  large  and  fine 
residences  ])uilt  by  the  prosperous  merchants  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  last  century,   most  of  whom,  how- 


40  EEMIXISCEXCES 

ever,  afterwards  failed,  because  of  the  troubles 
alluded  to. 

I  recall  very  little  of  the  war  of  1812,  though  some 
incidents  connected  with  it  are  still  fresh  in  my 
memory.  One  day  when  recovering-  from  an  attack 
of  sickness  I  watched  the  "Sea  Fencibles"  as  they 
were  drilling  near  my  father's  house  in  a  field  in  full 
view  from  my  chamber  window.  This  was  a  company 
of  volunteers  organized  to  man  a  battery  erected  on 
Munjoy  Hill,  oijposite  the  main  entrance  to  Portland 
harbor,  the  remains  of  the  embankment  of  which  are 
now  included  within  Fort  Allen  Park. 

By  the  way,  that  ]:>attery  was  more  formidable  in 
appearance  than  reality.  Its  most  dangerous  looking 
guns  were  "Quakers,"  great  logs  of  wood,  shaped 
like  cannon  and  painted  black.  They  doul)tless 
served  a  better  purpose  than  the  smaller,  but  genuine 
iron,  guns  would  have  done  had  the  hostile  British 
ships,  so  frequently  seen  in  the  ofiing,  come  within 
their  range. 

There  were  people  living  in  Portland  who  remem- 
bered the  destruction  of  the  town  by  Mowatt,  and 
whenever  a  strange  sail  was  seen  off  Cape  Elizabeth  so 
much  anxiety  was  manifest  aliout  town  that  even  the 
small  boys  noticed  it.  Well  they  might.  The  terror 
of  that  bombardment  lasted  longer  than  the  traces  of 
tlie  ruin  it  wrought.  My  grandfather  Allen  had  a 
vivid  recollection  of  his  ol)servations  and  experiences 
on  that  day,  never  to  be  forgotten  by  one  who  was  on 
the  ground.  He  had  come  into  town,  or  to  "The 
Neck,"  as  Portland  was  then  called,  with  his  team,  to 
assist  in  the  removal  of  furniture  and  goods  to  points 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  guns  of  the  fleet. 

Wliile    walking    beside  liis  loaded    team,    a  shell 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  41 

droi)ped  jut^t  in  front  of  his  oxen.  He  i)rostrated  him- 
self on  the  ground  and  waited  for  tlie  explosion, 
which  did  no  other  harm  than  to  make  quite  an 
excavation  in  the  road  and  cover  him  and  his  team 
with  dirt.  So  clearly  did  he  picture  to  me  the  scenes 
of  that  day,  of  the  groups  of  anxious  women  and 
crying  children  in  the  pastures,  of  the  men  hurrying 
to  and  fro,  of  the  bursting  shells  and  burning  build- 
ings, that  after  all  these  years  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
saw  with  my  own  eyes  an  event  which  occurred  thirty 
years  before  my  birth. 

But  to  return  to  the  "Sea  Fencibles,"  whom  we  left 
drilling.  I  was  told  a  story  relating  to  the  selection 
of  the  captain  in  charge  of  the  company  on  the  occa- 
sion of  that  drill.  In  the  canvass  preceding  his  elec- 
tion, Hon.  Asa  Clapp,  one  of  the  wealthiest,  most 
respected,  and  most  influential  merchants  of  Port- 
land, who  was  a  member  of  the  company,  objected,  it 
was  said,  to  the  choice  of  this  candidate  for  the  com- 
mand, because  the  aspirant  was  a  religious  man  and  a 
church-member,  and,  Mr.  Clapp  urged,  being  thus 
prepared  for  death  he  would  have  no  fear,  and  would 
1)6  more  likely,  if  chosen  captain,  to  expose  his  men  to 
danger  than  would  his  irreligious  rival  for  the  epau- 
lettes and  sword,  because  the  latter,  as  Mr.  Clapp 
suggested,  not  being  ready  to  die  himself,  would,  in 
taking  care  of  his  own  life,  look  out  better  for  the 
lives  of  his  soldiers  than  would  his  pious  rival. 

I  remember  the  great  excitement  in  our  little  town 
during  the  war  following  the  arrival  in  our  harbor  of 
the  Enterprise  with  her  prize,  the  English  brig  Boxer, 
after  the  famous  sea-fight  just  outside.  The  Boxer 
was  moored  at  the  end  of  the  wharf,  while  the  Enter- 
prise was  out  in  the  stream.     With  other  boys  of  m>- 


42  REMINISCENCES 

age  I  went  on  board  the  former,  and  with  interest  and 
awe  examined  the  t<hot-holes  in  her  hull  and  what  was 
said  to  he  the  blood-stains  on  her  deck. 

In  the  fight,  the  captains  of  both  ships,  both  young 
men,  were  killed.  The  funeral  procession  which 
escorted  their  remains  to  their  last  resting-place  in  our 
old  Eastern  cemetery  I  was  not  permitted  to  see,  for 
my  father  did  not  wish  my  youthful  mind  to  be 
impressed  by  the  music,  uniforms  and  arms,  the  pomp 
and  general  display  of  that  occasion. 

Quite  a  number  of  privateers  were  fitted  out  in 
Portland  during  that  war,  meeting  with  varying  suc- 
cess. Some  captured  prizes,  some  were  captured,  and 
some  were  lost  at  sea.  With  the  master  of  one  of 
these.  Captain  Cammett,  I  became  well  acquainted 
after  I  had  attained  to  manhood.  He  told  me  of  an 
exciting  adventure  he  had  during  our  troubles  with 
France  prior  to  the  war  of  1812.  His  vessel,  a  mer- 
chantman, with  the  owner  on  board,  had  been  cap- 
tured by  a  French  cruiser  and  taken  into  a  French 
port.  There  it  was  left  alongside  a  quay,  with  a 
squad  of  French  infantry  on  board  as  a  guard.  Cap- 
tain Cammett  conceived  the  plan  of  taking  advantage 
of  a  favoring  breeze  to  regain  possession  of  his  vessel 
and  put  out  to  sea. 

He  obtained  permission  to  hoist  his  sails  in  the 
afternoon,  on  the  pretense  of  preventing  them  from 
mildewing.  He  made  his  main  boom  fast  with  a 
temporary  line  and  completed  other  preparations 
which  gave  rise  to  no  suspicion  on  the  part  of  his 
'"land-lubber"  guard.  At  dusk,  when  all  was  ready 
and  his  own  crew  properly  stationed,  the  lines  which 
held  the  craft  to  the  quay  were  cut,  and  an  instant 
later  the  main  boom  was  set  free  by  a  blow  from  a 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  43 

liatcliet,  and,  swinging*  around,  it  knocked  down  and 
overboard  half  a  dozen  French  soldiers.  The  crew 
disposed  of  two  or  three  others,  and  the  rest  jumped 
into  the  sea.  Captain  Cammett  got  his  vessel  out 
safely,  half  a  dozen  cannon-shot  failing  to  do  any 
damage  except  that  one  passed  through  a  sail. 

Friends  were  generally  consistent  in  their  walk  and 
conversation  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  war.  Prizes 
were  brought  into  Portland  at  that  time  by  privateers 
fitted  out  here,  and  their  cargoes  were  disposed  of  at 
public  sale.  Among  others  was  one  laden  with  some 
specially  nice  crockery  ware.  Much  of  that  found  its 
way  into  the  houses  of  well-to-do  families  of  the  day, 
and  some  pieces  of  it  are  still  preserved  here  in  private 
collections  as  mementos  of  the  time.  As  a  rule,  the 
Friends  w^ould  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  of  these 
cargoes,  though  the  low  prices  at  which  such  goods 
were  generally  sold  must  otherwise  have  proved  much 
of  a  temptation  to  their  proverbial  frugality. 

The  w^ife  and  daughter  of  a  family  connection  of 
ours,  the  husband  and  father  of  whom  was  a  leading 
man  in  the  business  circles  of  Portland,  as  well  as 
among  the  Quakers,  influenced  undoubtedly  by  the 
low  price  at  wdiich  it  was  sold  as  well  as  by  the  beauty 
of  the  ware  alluded  to,  bought  a  quantity  of  it  and 
packed  it  away  in  their  attic,  with  the  idea,  perhaps, 
that  when  peace  should  be  restored  they  could  con- 
sistently use  it. 

One  day,  some  time  after  the  purchase.  Friend 
Hussey  came  home,  and  after  a  solemn  look  at  his 
wife,  but  without  a  word,  went  directly  to  the  attic. 
The  mother  and  daughter  listened.  They  suspected 
that  he  must  have  learned  of  their  purchase.  Immedi- 
ately they  heard  a  crash  of  crockery  in  the  yard,  and, 


44  REMINISCENCES 

looking  out,  saw  piece  after  piece  come  smashing  from 
the  attic  window  until  all  they  had  bought  waa 
destroyed.  Then  the  sturdy  Quaker  came  down, 
looked  over  the  debris  in  the  yard,  to  see  that  nothing 
had  escaped  destruction,  sent  for  a  team  and  had  the 
fragments  carted  away.  The  wife  and  daughter 
expected  reproof,  but  never  a  word  was  said  to  them 
on  the  subject  by  the  head  of  the  family,  who  evi- 
dently felt  that  he  had  sufficiently  rebuked  the 
^'weakness  of  his  women  folk." 

When  I  was  a  boy  a  murderer  was  hung  on  Munjoy 
Hill.  He  had  been  convicted  of  killing,  in  a  town 
adjoining  Portland,  an  officer  who  was  attempting  to 
serve  some  sort  of  legal  document  upon  him.  The 
inhabitants  generally  from  all  the  surrounding 
country,  as  well  as  from  Portland  itself,  flocked  to 
the  scene,  as  to  a  feast,  and  a  gala  day  was  made  of  it, 
the  people  picnicking  on  the  hill  near  the  gallows. 
Boy-like,  I  wished  also  to  view  the  horrible  sight,  as 
some  of  the  boys  in  my  neighborhood  were  allowed  to 
do,  with  their  parents,  but  my  father  forbade  it.  My 
Uncle  Jonathan,  who  was  a  sea-captain,  was  then 
visiting  our  home,  and  he  was  about  to  give  me  a 
glimpse  of  it  through  a  spyglass  from  the  scuttle  of  our 
roof  when  I  was  summarily  summoned  down-stairs  by 
my  father,  to  my  great  and  unreasonable  wrong,  as  I 
then  thought. 

The  pillory,  the  stocks,  and  the  whipping-post  were 
out  of  use  by  the  time  I  was  old  enough  to  understand 
anything  about  such  matters,  but  the  two  former, 
after  their  disuse,  were  stored  with  other  old  lumber 
near  the  jail,  where  I  saw  them,  and  where  for  years 
they  excited  the  interest  and  curiosity  of  those  whose 
attention  was  called  to  them.     As  to  the  whipi)ing-post 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  45 

I  have  no  recollection,  but  I  have  never  tliought  of  a 
punifc<hnient  better  adapted  for  one  class  of  criminals — 
wife-beaters— than  whipping.  Were  that  jn-omptly 
administered  in  every  known  case  of  such  outrage,  I 
am  confident  there  would  be  fewer  of  them.  AVell- 
founded  objections  may  be  urged  to  public  administra- 
tions of  it,  and  I  would  be  willing  to  compromise  on  a 
sufficiently  severe  private  application. 

One  of  the  interesting,  and,  upon  the  whole,  impres- 
sive sights  with  which  the  youths  of  my  day  were 
familiar  was  the  ceremonies  attending  the  oi)ening  of 
court,  or  rather  the  progress  —  for  it  was  altogether 
too  majestic  to  be  termed  the  walk  —  of  the  judge  from 
his  tavern  or  boarding-house  to  the  court-house.  At 
the  appointed  time,  the  sheriff,  with  several  under- 
officers,  the  former  armed  with  a  sword,  the  others 
with  staves,  presented  themselves  at  the  domicile  of 
the  judge  to  escort  his  honor  through  the  streets. 
Pending  the  pleasure  of  the  court  to  commence  the 
march,  a  group  in  which  small  boys  predominated 
always  gathered  about  the  door,  just  beyond  reach  of 
the  tip  of  the  longest  official  staff,  which  was  liable 
without  warning  to  tap  the  head,  to  poke  the  ribs,  or 
to  drop  on  the  toes  of  some  venturous  urchin  who 
approached  too  near  the  sacred  circle  which  was  to 
receive  the  "  Jedge  ". 

AVhen  the  door  opened  and  the  awful  presence  of  the 
embodied  majesty  of  law  approached,  stillness  fell 
upon  the  group.  The  boys  doffed  their  hats,  save  the 
little  Quakers  among  them  who  had  been  taught  at 
home  that  to  remove  a  hat  to  a  mortal  man  was  a  grave 
offense  to  Grod.  The  sheriff  would  approach  the  judge, 
with  his  hat,  a  cocked  one,  in  hand,  and  ask  his 
' '  worship's  "  pleasure.     Then  after  the  exchange  of  a 


46  EEMIXISCEXCES 

fe^x  formal  questions  and  replies  tlie  little  procession 
TTOukl  form. 

The  slieriff .  with  drawn  sword,  placed  himself  in  the 
van:  behind  him  two  tipstaves  took  places,  looking 
more  important  than  the  sheriff  himself:  then  the 
judge,  with  a  calm,  stern  countenance,  impressing  all 
the  boys  about,  and  older  people  too,  I  dare  say,  with 
a  deep  sense  of  the  great  amount  of  justice,  righteous- 
ness and  wisdom  the  commonwealth  had  committed  to 
his  keeping.  Behind  the  judge  in  position.  Imt  not  a 
whit  in  pompousness  of  bearing,  were  two  other  officers 
carrying  staves.  Then  the  march  began  its  slow  and 
stately  way  to  the  court-house,  perhaps  a  quarter  to 
half  a  mile  distant.  Behind,  at  a  respectful  dis- 
tance —  no  one  presumed  to  get  near  enough  to  be  by 
any  chance  mistaken  for  a  part  of  the  retinue  of  the 
court  —  followed  men  and  boys.  Hats,-  always  except- 
ing those  of  the  Quakers,  were  lifted  by  the  townsfolk 
met  or  passed  on  the  way  to  court. 

Such  ceremony  now  would  be  likely  to  excite  ridi- 
cule because  we  are  so  unused  to  anything  of  the  kind. 
I  am  not  sure,  upon  the  whole,  but  that  the  effect  was 
good.  Certainly  the  men  who  are  clothed  with  the 
great  powers  of  the  judiciary,  ought  always  to  stand 
so  high,  in  learning,  in  official  conduct  and  bearing  — 
and  shall  I  not  say,  above  all,  in  their  i)rivate  life  and 
conversation  —  as  to  justly  command  the  respect  of  all 
right-thinking  citizens. 

AVhen  I  was  about  twelve  years  old,  I  saw  the  first 
elephant  exhibited  in  Maine.  It  was  a  great  wonder, 
and  the  people  thronged  into  Portland  from  many 
miles  around,  on  foot,  on  horseback,  and  in  every  con- 
ceivable kind  of  conveyance,  except  Avhat  would  now 
be  regarded  as  convenient  and  comfortable  for  such 


OF   XEAL   DOW.  47 

use.  The  animal  was  exhibited  in  the  stable-yard  of 
a  tavern  standing  near  where  now  The  Evening 
Express  Publishing  Company  is  located.  Besides  the 
interest  which  the  first  sight  of  such  a  beast  would 
excite,  I  have  another  reason  for  remembering  it. 

I  saw  a  man  wrap  some  tobacco  in  paper  and 
give  it  to  the  elephant,  and.  boy -like,  was  amused  with 
the  "fun"'  the  act  made  for  the  bystanders.  The 
keeper,  attracted  by  that,  asked  what  it  was  all  about, 
and,  upon  being  told,  advised  the  man  to  get  away 
from  the  place  immediately,  because,  as  he  said,  the 
animal  would  be  sure  to  resent  it  if  opportunity 
offered,  and  if  he  happened  to  pass  within  its  reach, 
the  elephant  would  certainly  kill  him.  At  first  the 
man  was  disposed  to  ignore  the  advice,  but  the  keeper 
was  so  positive  that  it  would  be  dangerous  for  him  to 
remain  that  he  concluded  to  go. 

The  elephant  remained  on  exhibition  for  some  time. 
If  I  mistake  not,  it  was  the  first  ever  brought  to  the 
country,  and  was  as  much  of  a  wonder  to  adult  as  to 
youthful  spectators.  On  its  way  out  of  Maine  the 
poor  brute  was  shot  in  the  town  of  Alfred  by  a  farmer 
who  was  incensed  because  its  owners  had  taken  so 
much  money  from  the  farmers. 

When  about  thirteen  years  old.  after  I  had  been 
some  time  at  the  Portland  Academy.  I  was  sent  with 
my  sister  Harriet  to  the  Friends"  Academy  in  New 
Bedford.  The  reason  for  this  change  was  in  part  the 
desire  of  my  parents  to  assist  the  school,  and  in  part 
because  they  believed  it  would  be  to  our  advantage  to 
mingle  with  people  outside  our  own  home. 

I  went  in  a  new  and  clean  ship  just  built  in  Portland 
for  IS'ew  Bedford  parties  engaged  in  the  whaling  busi- 
ness, which  thev  had  established  at  Havre.  France, 


48  REMIXISCEXCES 

attracted  there  by  the  bounty  given  by  the  French 
S'overnment  to  whaling  vessels  employing  a  certain 
proportion  of  Frenchmen  in  their  crews.  It  was  com- 
manded by  a  Captain  Winslow,  a  connection  of  the 
family,  and  was  bound  to  New  Bedford  to  be  fitted 
and  furnished  as  a  first-class  whaler,  prior  to  her 
departure  for  France.  Her  captain  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  my  father,  a  gentleman  of  culture  and  refine- 
ment, who  had  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world,  and 
who  had  taken  a  great  interest  in  me  when  visiting 
our  house,  where  I  was  always  glad  to  listen  to  his 
tales  of  the  countries  he  had  visited  and  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  people  in  the  various  places  he  had 
seen,  all  so  strange  to  me. 

Owing  to  unfavoring  winds,  the  voyage  to  New 
Bedford  was  much  longer  than  was  expected,  but  it 
was  an  interesting  and  instructive  one  to  me,  and  I 
enjoyed  every  hour  of  it,  as  would  any  other  strong 
and  active  boy.  The  captain  apparently  found  much 
pleasure  in  explaining  to  me  many  matters  about  the 
management  of  ships,  and  I  am  surprised  that  he 
should  have  so  patiently  answered  the  many  questions 
suggested  by  my  curiosity  and  my  desire  to  understand 
something  about  everything  I  saw.  I  was  permitted 
to  go  aloft  with  the  crew  to  assist  (?)  in  making  or 
shifting  sail,  as  the  case  might  be.  On  all  such  occa- 
sions I  was  ])ut  on  the  extreme  yard-arm,  but  I  had 
next  me  a  strong,  active  sailor  charged  to  keep  careful 
watch  over  me. 

In  New  Bedford,  I  was  placed  in  a  Friend's  family 
to  board,  where  I  was  content  from  the  first  day,  and 
was  made  to  feel  as  nnich  at  home  as  if  under  my 
father's  roof.  A  maiden  lady  in  this  family  had  me 
under  her  special  care.     She  took  pleasure  in  intro- 


OF    2^EAL    BO^V.  49 

ducing  me  among  cultivated  people  older  than  I,  and 
in  that  way  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  come  under  the 
influence  of  a  circle  in  which  my  mind  and  manners 
had  opportunities  for  improvement. 

Those  were  happy  as  well  as  useful  days  for  me. 
The  Friends  in  New  Bedford  were  numerous,  and 
because  of  their  wealth,  culture,  and  high  personal 
(qualities,  were  influential  citizens.  They  endeavored 
to  make  life  pleasa,nt  for  all  students  from  abroad  in 
their  school,  and  consequently,  with  other  scholars,  I 
was  often  at  their  houses,  almost  one  of  them  in  their 
charming  family  circles.  Some  acquaintances  and 
friendships  formed  there,  though  none  of  my  asso- 
ciates of  those  days,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  are  now 
living, "  seem  to  me  fresh  and  warm  to  this  day,  having 
been  kept  up  by  correspondence  and  interchange  of 
visits  for  many  years.  Among  my  schoolmates  was 
Moses  H.  Grinnell,  afterwards  a  prominent  New  York 
merchant. 

While  at  school  in  New  Bedford,  during  vacations, 
I  made  excursions  in  the  family  carriage  of  the  good 
people  with  whom  I  l^oarded,  to  neighl:)oring  towns, 
going  two  or  three  times  into  Rhode  Island,  and 
visiting  there  some  of  my  schoolmates.  The  yearly 
meeting  of  the  Friends  was  held  at  Newport,  R.  I. ,  in 
June  of  each  year,  and  we  found  visits  there  most 

*  Among  the  greetings  received  by  General  Dow  upon  the  occasion 
of  his  ninetieth  birthday,  March  20,  1894,  was  tlie  following,  from  an 
old  schoolmate,  whom  he  remembered  well,  but  whom  he  had  supposed 
was  not  living. 

Xeav  Bedford,  Mass.,  March  18,  1894. 
Gex.  Xeal  Dow, 

My  Dear  Early  Friend: 
Your  old  schoolmate  sends  hearty  greetings  to  you  as  you  reach  the 
age  of  ninety.    I  shall  be  the  same  "next  28th  June.    Well  do  I  remem- 
ber you  and  your  sister  Harriet  in  our  young  days  in  New  Bedford. 
May  God  bless  you. 

Sincerel}', 

Aeby  Giffoed  Bryant. 


50  EEMIXISCEXCES 

delightful,  associating,  as  we  did,  with  the  l^est  people 
of  the  society  from  every  part  of  New  England,  among 
them  many  of  al)ont  our  own  age. 

The  principal  of  the  Friends'  Academy,  at  the  time 
of  my  connection  with  it.  was  Thomas  A.  Green.  He 
was  admiral)ly  fitted  for  the  situation,  maintaining  a 
careful,  fatherly  discipline  in  the  schooh  We  had  a 
great  company  of  boys  and  girls  at  the  academy  as 
students.  They  were  from  different  states,  and  dur- 
ing all  the  time  I  heard  of  no  incident,  and  am  confi- 
dent there  was  none,  which  might  not  be  freely  spoken 
of  in  any  company. 

The  school  was  well  equipped  for  the  course  of 
studies  pursued  there,  which  included  the  classics  as 
well  as  all  branches  of  English  learning  at  that  time 
taught  in  New  England  academies.  One  special 
attraction  for  me  was  a  large  philosophical  apparatus 
which  was  said  to  be  of  the  best  construction  and 
workmanship  of  its  time.  Through  it  I  acquired  a 
taste  for  mechanics  in  all  branches.  As  one  result  of 
this,  I  may  here  add  that  I  have  been  a  subscriber  for 
the  Scientific  American  from  its  first  publication,  I 
think,  to  the  ijresent  time,  and  have  never  failed  to 
carefully  read  each  number  when  I  have  been  at  home 
with  opportunity  so  to  do. 

And  this  reminds  me  of  the  interest  I  took  in  the 
construction  of  the  first  steam-engine  ever  made  in 
Maine.  It  was  a  small,  experimental  affair,  made  by 
my  honored  friend,  Rev.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  of  Constanti- 
nople fame.  Tliis  was  in  the  early  "thirties,"  when 
steam-engines  were  more  than  novelties  —  wonders  to 
most  people.  Though  I  had  seen  steam-engines,  and 
had  read  and  talked  and  written  about  them,  they 
were  still  objects  of  great  interest  to  me. 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  51 

Dr.  Hamlin  was  then  a  student  at  Bowdoin  college, 
in  tlie  cabinet  of  which  that  masterpiece  of  his  youth  is 
yet  retained  as  a  curiosity.  It  was  a  sort  of  locomo- 
tive, large  and  strong  enough  to  carry  two  men,  and 
would  propel  itself  along  a  floor.  Young  Hamlin  did 
most  of  his  work  upon  it  in  Portland,  and  I  was 
frequently  with  him,  rendering  such  aid  as  I  might. 
That  was  little  enough.  But  when  it  was  finished, 
Mr.  Hamlin  was  in  debt  on- its  account,  and  I 
interested  myself  to  secure  for  him  an  invitation  to 
lecture  before  the  Portland  Lyceum  —  I  was  then 
president  of  that  society  —  thus  obtaining  for  him 
some  remuneration.  What  was  a  matter  of  great 
personal  interest  to  me,  Mr.  Hamlin  has  always 
regarded  as  a  favor  and  kindness  to  him.  * 

Continuing  my  digression,  I  may  say  that  my 
interest  in  this  experiment  of  Dr.  Hamlin  led  me  to 
urge  my  father,  and  finally  to  induce  him,  rather 
against  his  own  judgment,  to  sul^stitute  steam  for  the 
old  horse  and  windmill  power  we  were  then  using  in 
our  tannery,  with  the  result  that  we  there  put  in 
operation  the  first  stationary  engine  ever  built  in 
Portland.  It  was  a  wonderful  machine  in  its  day, 
and  did  good  service  for  many  years,  but  to  the 
modern  steam  engineer  it  would  appear  to  be  a  thing 
wonderfully  and  fearfully,  if  not  intricately,  made. 

But  to  return  to  New  Bedford.  The  school  had  an 
exceptionally  fine  library,  the  gift  of  a  rich  Friend  in 
Rhode  Island.     Among  its  useful  and  entertaining 

*Aniong  the  books  in  the  li1)rary  of  the  late  General  Dow  is  one 
by  Dr.  Hamlin,  with  the  following  inscription  on  its  title  page:  "This 
volume  is  presented  by  the  author  to  his  honored  and  beloved  friend, 
Gen.  Xeal  Dow,  in  memory  of  the  aid  and  cheer  rendered  to  him 
sixty-two  years  ago  while  making  under  difficulties  the  first  steam- 
engine  ever  made  in  Maine. 

Cyrus  Hamlix,  Lexington,  February  5,  1894. 


52  REMINISCENCES 

books  I  passed  hours.  There  I  eoiild  gratify  to  my 
heart's  content  my  love  for  reading,  already  formed, 
and  which  has  remained  with  me  until  this  day,  in  all 
its  early  freshness  and  strength.  Because  of  this  taste 
for  books,  I  have  had  in  all  my  life,  few,  if  any, 
lonely  hours.  When  not  otherwise  employed,  my 
time  has  been  occupied  with  reading  or  writing,  and 
has  never  hung  heavily  upon  my  hands.  Even  the 
well-nigh  unbearable  confinement  in  a  military  prison 
was  made  comparatively  cheerful  by  the  books  which 
were  kindly  given  me.     But  more  elsewhere  of  this. 

We  had  athletic  sports,  not  as  a  business,  nor  as 
engrossing  our  time  at  the  expense  of  our  studies,  but 
simply  as  a  I'ecreation.  "Shinny"  was  the  popular 
game  of  the  day.  We  also  had  football,  but  never 
engaged  in  the  game  with  the  ferocity  sometimes 
exhibited  in  these  later  times.  We  had  aquatic 
sports,  and  there  were  many  pleasant  spots  up  and 
down  the  shores  of  Buzzard's  bay  which  we  visited  on 
picnics  or  otherwise. 

A  large  whaling  fleet  was  owned  in  New  Bedford, 
and  New  Bedford  boys  generally  were  fond  of  the 
management  of  boats  and  all  sports  al^out  the  wharves 
and  water,  and  looked  forward  to  the  time  when 
they  should  become  masters  of  whaling  ships.  With 
many  others,  I  became  an  expert  swimmer,  and, 
emulating  them  in  the  handling  of  sail-boats,  became 
skilled  in  this  sort  of  seamanshii).  Practice  in  this 
line  continued  through  my  youth  and  early  manhood, 
and  the  knowledge  and  experience  thus  obtained  has 
on  more  than  one  occasion  i^roved  of  value  when 
others,  whose  ijosition  was  such  that  they  should  have 
been  relied  u|)on  in  tlie  emergency,  proved  unequal 
to  it.     Looking  back  ui)on  my  amusements  in  and 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  53 

about  the  water  at  New  Bedford,  I  wonder  that  I 
escaped  drowning,  so  many  times  was  I  in  great 
danger. 

Wonderful  yarns  were  spun  in  New  Bedford  then  of 
the  adventures  of  men  in  hunting  whales,  of  their 
hairbreadth  escapes  from  drowning  and  from  attacks 
of  Avhales  upon  boats,  and  sometimes  ships,  that  were 
struck  and  sunk  by  the  monsters.  There  was  a 
whaleman  in  New  Bedford  who  told  us  he  was  in  a 
"boat  smashed  by  a  whale's  tail,  setting  the  crew  afloat 
in  mid-ocean;  that  he  was  taken  into  the  whale's  jaws, 
which  closed  upon  him,  holding  him  fast  and  pincli- 
ing  him  a  little,  but  with  no  wound;  then,  the  mouth 
slowly  opening,  the  man  quickly  escaped,  and  was 
picked  up  by  another  boat. 

I  remember  a  Captain  Parker,  especially,  a  small 
man,  of  great  activity  and  bodily  power.  He  was 
lame  in  one  foot,  and  told  this  story  about  it.  He 
was  steersman  in  a  whale-boat.  A  large  wliale  was 
struck  and  "sounded."  The  line  caught  Parker's 
ankle,  carrying  him  overboard,  and  down,  down, 
down,  with  tremendous  velocity.  He  did  not  lose 
presence  of  mind,  and  endeavored  to  cut  the  line  with 
his  sheath-knife,  but  could  not  manage  it  until  the 
whale  lessened  its  speed  and  he  was  able  to  reach  the 
line  and  sever  it.  He  remembered  no  more  until  he 
recovered  consciousness,  surrounded  by  his  fellows, 
who  had  seized  him,  drowned,  as  they  supposed,  as  he 
came  up  close  to  the  boat. 

Such  men  were  regarded  as  heroes  by  all  young 
New  Bedford  then,  greater,  doubtless,  in  the  minds  of 
the  young  Quakers  at  the  Friends'  Academy  than  if 
as  soldiers  they  had  exposed  themselves  on  a  hundred 
battle-fields. 


54  REMINISCENCES 

111  dit^C'liarsin.i^'  tlie  cargo  of  one  of  those  wlialerni  at 
a  New  Bedford  wharf,  it  was  found  that  a  cask  was 
firmly  fixed  to  one  side  of  the  vessel.  It  was  an^bject 
of  great  interest  to  the  people  who  visited  the  ship  in 
crowds  to  see  it.  AVhen  finally  the  cask  was  taken 
down,  it  was  found  to  have  been  fastened  there  by  the 
sword  of  a  swordfish,  which  it  was  alleged  had  passed 
through  the  hull  of  the  ship  between  the  timbers,  and, 
puncturing  the  oil-cask,  held  it  in  position. 

I  was  relating  this  incident  not  long  ago  to  my  old 
friend,  Cai)t.  Benjamin  J.  Willard,  of  this  city,  the 
well  known  pilot  and  fisherman,  and  he  told  me  that 
some  forty  years  i)rior  to  the  time  of  our  conversation 
he  was  in  a  museum  in  Philadeli)hia,  and  there  saw 
some  planks  from  a  ship  containing  part  of  the  sword 
of  a  swordfish  which  had  passed  completely  through. 
He  was  told  that  the  specimen  was  taken  from  a 
whaling-ship,  that  the  sword  had  pierced  an  oil-cask, 
and  that  the  incident  had  occurred  many  years  before 
his  visit  to  the  museum.  Upon  my  suggesting  that  it 
might  liave  l3een  taken  from  the  same  ship  which  I 
had  seen  in  New  Bedford,  he  replied  tliat  it  was  possi- 
ble, but  that  occurrences  of  the  kind  were  not  at  all 
uncommon,  that  he  himself  on  two  occasions  had  been 
in  ships  which  had  thus  been  injured  by  swordfish. 

In  those  days  there  were  no  railroads,  and  steam- 
boats had  not  begun  to  run  along  our  coasts.  Travel- 
ing was  by  stage  or  private  conveyance.  Wlien  my 
sister  and  I  were  to  return  from  Now  Bedford,  my 
father  dro\e  from  Portland  to  take  us  home  in  the 
family  chaise.  First  we  Avent  from  New  Bedford  to 
Newport,  where  we  attended  the  yearly  meeting  sev- 
eral days,  then  to  Providence  the  first  day,  next  to 
Boston,  to  Portsmouth,  N.  H. ,  on  the  third  day,  and 


OF   NEAL    DOAV.  55 

tlience  to  Portland,  consuming  four  days  of  what  was 
good  traveling  then,  to  cover  a  route  which  may  be 
now  traveled  in  less  than  half  a  score  of  hours.  In 
the  same  way  I  went  with  my  sister  the  next  year  to 
New  Bedford,  and  again  the  year  after  to  Newport 
to  attend  yearly  meeting,  no  better  mode  of  travel 
offering.  To  children  of  our  age  such  journeying 
afforded  perpetual  delight  as  well  as  instruction. 

I  may  as  well  say  here  that  in  the  earlier  days  of 
railroading  in  New  England,  or  at  least  in  Maine,  not 
long  after  the  railroad  between  Portland  and  Boston 
had  been  constructed  I  went  over  it  with  an  excur- 
sion party.  We  left  Portland  between  four  and  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  expecting  to  arrive  in  Boston 
in  the  early  forenoon,  but  although  our  train  was  no 
longer  than  the  ordinary  e  very-day  train  of  to-day, 
the  engine  was  so  absurdly  inadequate  for  the  work 
(and  it  was  probably  as  good  as  any  of  that  time)  that 
it  was  impossible  for  it  to  haul  the  loaded  cars  up  over 
several  of  the  grades  of  the  road,  and  it  was  necessary 
for  the  passengers  to  alight,  and  many  of  them,  prob- 
ably by  way  of  sport,  assisted  in  pushing  the  train  up 
over  some  of  the  grades.  We  did  not  reach  Boston 
until  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Those  who 
are  familiar  with  the  magnificent  railroad  equipments 
of  the  present  day  will  find  it  difficult  to  credit  this 
story. 


CHAPTER  III. 


LIFE   AFTER   LEAVING    SCHOOL.  EMPLOYMENTS   AND   IN- 

TERESTS  TO   THE   TIME    OF   MY    MAJORITY. 
MY    "grand   tour." 


Upon  leaving  the  Friends'  Academy  at  New  Bedford, 
I  again  entered  the  Portland  Academy,  and  after  a 
year  there  my  school-life  terminated,  in  1820,  when  I 
was  sixteen  years  of  age.  I  much  desired  to  go  to 
college,  for  which  I  had  fitted,  bnt  my  parents  were 
strongly  opposed,  and  I  was  constrained  to  conform  to 
their  wishes.  Their  opposition  to  my  taking  a  colle- 
giate course  was  partially  due,  no  donbt,  to  the  dread 
of  the  possibly  bad  influence  upon  me  of  associations 
that  I  might  form  while  absent  from  home. 

It  had  happened  that  one  or  two  families  of  our 
acquaintance  had  experienced  much  wretchedness 
from  the  dissipation  of  sons,  dissipation  resulting 
from  habits  said  to  liave  been  contracted  at  college; 
but  the  opposition  was  largely  owing  to  the  impression 
at  that  time  prevailing  to  some  extent  in  the  religious 
society  of  Avhicli  my  i)a rents  were  members,  that  a 
college  education  was  a  device  of  the  adversary,  and 
was  to  be  obtained  only  at  great  ])eril  to  the  immortal 
Boul.  Their  o]).jection,  based  probably  u|)on  tlie  latter 
reason,  prevented  also  the  gratification  of  my  desire  to 


EEMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL   DOAV.  57 

study  law.  And  so,  perforce,  after  a  month  or  so  cf 
vacation,  I  went  into  my  father's  tannery  to  make 
myself  generally  useful  about  his  business. 

At  the  same  time,  however,  I  formed  the  determina- 
tion to  supi)lement  my  school  acquirements  by  a 
regular  course  of  reading.  This  resolution,  because 
of  my  great  fondness  for  books,  I  was  glad  to  make, 
and  found  easy  to  keep.  Indeed,  my  difficulty  was 
rather  so  to  limit  the  time  given  to  them  as  not  to 
permit  interference  with  the  practical  duties  and 
responsibilities  which  from  this  time  on  began  to  con- 
front me.  The  means  for  gratifying  my  desire  for 
reading  were  at  hand.  Father  had,  perhaps,  more 
than  the  usual  number  and  variety  of  books  to  be 
found  in  the  average  family  library  of  those  days,  and 
when  these  had  been  read,  and  some  of  them  re-read,  I 
had  recourse  to  those  of  our  family  friends  who  were 
among  the  cultivated  and  intelligent  people  of  the 
community,  and  to  such  other  accessible  collections 
as  the  little  town  afforded. 

My  spare  pocket-money  was  also  expended  from  time 
to  time  for  books,  and  I  began  thus  early  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  library  which  at  this  writing  com- 
pares favorably  in  number,  variety,  and  quality  of  con- 
tents with  most  private  collections  in  Maine.  Again 
my  business  was  such  that  much  of  my  leisure  from 
youth  to  manhood  could  be  given  up  to  books  and  pen, 
and  to  diversions  of  a  collateral  kind  without  risk  to 
my  health  from  confinement,  and  my  reading  covered 
a  wide  range.  A  friend  of  mine  was  studying  medi- 
cine, and  I  found  myself  frequently  with  him,  keeping 
up  with  him  in  the  perusal  of  medical  works.  The 
doctor  with  whom  he  was  studying,  said  to  me  that 
there  were  some  in  practice  (this  was  long  before  the 


58  REMIXISCEXCES 

days  of  medical  registration)  wlio  had  read  less  about 
medicine  tlian  I— a  statement,  by  tlie  way,  far  from 
discreet,  as  it  was  not  calculated  to  inspire  me  with 
that  confidence  which  in  health  is  most  comfortable,  as 
in  sickness  most  important.  When  I  was  quite  a 
young  man,  I  think  not  twenty-five  years  old,  I  was 
associated  with  many  of  the  older  professional  citizens 
of  Portland  in  a  literary  society,  known  as  the 
Portland  Athenaeum,  which  established  and  main- 
tained for  many  years  the  leading  library  in  town.  I 
think  I  was  its  first  secretary. 

I  derived  some  inspiration  in  my  efforts  at  self- 
culture  from  the  Constitutional  Convention  prepara- 
tory to  the  separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts, 
that  along  in  my  early  teens  assembled  in  Portland. 
I  attended  its  sessions  as  constantly  as  possible,  and 
was  not  by  any  means  the  only  Portland  boy  whose 
interest  in  public  affairs  was  there  stimulated.  Our 
young  lawyers  and  law  students  attended  these 
gatlierings  in  force,  and  the  Solons  of  the  embryo 
state  found  numerous  and  interested  auditors,  and,  I 
dare  say,  more  or  less  competent  critics  among  the 
youth  and  young  men  of  Portland. 

Tliat  convention  was  held  in  the  First  Parisli 
church,  an  old-fashioned  wooden  structure,  occupying 
the  site,  opposite  the  head  of  Temple  street,  where  the 
more  modern  stone  edifice  now  stands.  Its  high 
pulpit,  overhanging  sounding-board,  and  its  old-fasli- 
ioned  s(iuare  ijews  gave  a  more  than  ordinarily  somlier 
and  impressive  character  to  the  grave  assemblage  it 
then  entertained.  Tliat  cliurch  edifice  antedated  the 
Ke volution.  It  escaped  material  damage  from  the 
bombardment  by  Mo  watt,  though  a  shell  was  tlirown 
into  it,  which  is  still  preserved  as  a  curiosity. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  59 

I  was  present  in  the  old  chnrch,  some  time  later 
than  the  days  of  which  I  am  writing,  when  a  panic 
occurred,  in  which,  as  I  now  remember,  though 
several  persons  were  injured,  no  lives  were  lost.  It 
was  on  the  occasion  of  the  delivery  of  a  sermon  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Pay  son,  I  think,  before  the  Seamen's  Bil^le 
Society.  The  church  was  crowded,  every  foot  of  space 
being  occupied  by  those  who  had  flocked  to  hear  the 
famous  divine,  then  in  the  height  of  his  ])opularity  and 
power  as  a  preacher.  The  galleries  were  supported 
by  round  pillars  of  oak.  These  had  apparently  been 
warped  by  age  until  they  seemed  to  be  bending  under 
the  weight  above  them. 

The  large  crowd  which  thronged  the  galleries  had 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  people  in  the  body  of 
the  house,  and,  together  with  the  distorted  pillars, 
caused,  evidently,  some  apprehension.  I  was  standing 
in  one  of  the  galleries  near  the  center  of  the  building 
from  front  to  rear.  I  had  noticed  the  size  of  the 
crowd,  and  had  also  observed  the  apparent  distrust  on 
the  part  of  those  in  the  body  of  the  house  as  to  the 
strength  of  the  gallery  supports.  Suddenly  some  one 
in  the  gallery  accidentally  broke  a  pane  of  glass  in  my 
immediate  vicinity.  The  noise  created  a  stampede, 
and  instantly  almost  everyone  in  the  body  of  the 
house,  and  in  the  galleries  as  well,  was  rushing  for 
the  doors. 

From  my  position  I  could  see  men  and  women  in  the 
aisles  struggling  for  exit.  I  had  no  fear  of  serious 
injury  to  the  building,  knowing  the  cause  of  the 
alarm,  but  I  was  crowded  and  pushed  and  carried 
until  brought  near  a  window  at  the  front  end,  through 
which  I  partly  forced  my  way,  and  was  partly  pushed, 
to  a  position  on  the  outside  of  the  lintel,  where,  free 


60  REMINISCENCES 

from  pressure  and  danger,  I  watched  the  crowd  as  it 
emerged  below.  One  man  in  particular  attracted  my 
attention,  and  from  my  vantage-point  I  observed  him 
with  surprise.  He  was  hysterical  with  terror,  and  as 
he  was  ])ushing  and  fighting  his  way  through  the 
crowd  Just  outside  the  doors  he  was  alternately  crying, 
swearing  or  praying,  all  at  the  top  of  his  voice.  As 
soon  as  he  was  outside  the  crowd,  he  turned  and  with 
upraised  arms  shouted  in  a  sort  of  delirium:  "Now 

it,  let  the thing  fall!  "    I  wondered  how  one 

so  solicitous  for  his  own  safety  as  that  man  had  been, 
could  be,  after  he  had  himself  escaped  danger,  so 
indifferent  to  that  which  threatened  others.  My  con- 
tempt for  such  cowardice  was  burned  deep  into  my 
consciousness  by  the  exhil^ition  made  by  that  fellow. 
I  have  often  thought  of  him  in  his  unutterably 
unmanly  attitude  when  in  after  life  I  have  found 
really  good  men  unwilling  to  lend  a  hand  to  remove 
great  evils  with  which  society  is  threatened,  and 
therefore  to  all  appearance  indifferent  to  them. 

The  legislatures  of  Maine  assembled  in  Portland 
until  I  had  passed  my  majority,  and,  whenever  possi- 
ble, during  my  youth,  I  was  present,  always  interested, 
and  doubtless  profiting  by  what  was  there  to  be  seen 
and  heard.  Indeed,  I  had  but  just  passed  my  majority 
when  I  appeared  before  the  legislature  to  urge,  with 
successful  result,  a  law  relating  to  municipal  fire- 
departments,  which  I  believe  has  remained  from  that 
day  to  this  the  basis  of  legislation  upon  that  subject. 

In  Portland  then,  as  everywhere  else,  the  boys  and 
young  men  had  their  debating-societies,  and  with  one 
I  was  connected,  trying  to  bear  my  part  with  the 
others.  Among  the  meml)ers  I  recollect  were  James 
Brooks,  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  and  Francis  O.  J. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  61 

Smith,  all  of  Avlioni  became  men  of  mark,  serving  in 
Congress,  and  the  latter  two  especially,  in  those  early 
days  gave  promise  of  the  forensic  abilities  which  in 
mature  life  made  them  prominent. 

I  was  not  behind  any  of  my  associates  or  acquaint- 
ances, the  boys  and  young  men  of  my  age,  in  a 
reasonable  taste  for  the  proper  pleasures  and  indul- 
gences which  have  attractions  for  youth.  I  was  fond 
of  music,  and  acquired  proficiency  in  playing  the  flute, 
indulging  that  taste  to  some  extent  until  convinced 
that  the  time  thus  taken  could  be  more  profitably 
employed.  I  was  fond  of  chess,  also,  and  other  games 
depending  more  on  skill  and  thought  than  chance,  but 
in  those  in  which  mere  luck  predominated  I  never 
took  an  interest. 

Everybody  rode  horseback  in  those  days,  because  it 
was  the  principal  mode  of  travel  of  those  not  obliged 
to  go  on  foot.  An  old  cavalry  ofiicer  residing  in 
Portland  instructed  a  class  of  young  men,  of  whom  I 
was  one,  and  he  made  no  holiday  affair  of  our  course 
under  his  direction,  which  included  racing,  leaping, 
and  whatever  else  would  help  us  to  a  mastery  of  the 
horse  and  to  entire  ease  in  the  saddle.  From  him, 
also,  Ave  learned  to  fence  and  to  use  the  cutlass. 

Horseback  excursions  were  frequent  then,  and  I 
remember  many,  among  them  especially  one  through 
the  White  Mountain  region.  My  friend  Charles  B. 
Abbott,  a  son  of  Dr.  Abbott,  the  princii)al  of  the 
famous  Exeter  academy,  came  to  Portland  on  a  visit 
on  horseback,  and  wished  me  to  join  him  in  a  journey 
to  the  top  of  Mount  Washington.  It  was  thought  to 
be  a  formidable  undertaking  for  those  days,  espec- 
ially for  boys  of  our  age.  Here  is  substantially  what 
I  wrote  of  it  many  years  ago : 


62  REMINISCENCES 

Starting  in  the  mornin,^-,  our  first  day  was  ended  at 
"Squire"  Pierce's,  in  Baldwin,  thirty  miles  away. 
The  Pierces  were  intimate  friends  of  my  family,  keep- 
ing open  house  for  all  friends,  as  did  rich  farmers  and 
lumber  oi)erators  of  that  day.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
prominent  families  in  the  western  part  of  Maine. 
George,  the  youngest  son,  about  our  age,  joined  us 
here.  From  this  point  onward  our  way  was  not  as 
easy.  Our  second  stage  was  at  Bartlett,  where  we 
arrived  at  General  Hall's  tavern,  very  late  at  night, 
having  traveled  for  two  or  three  hours  through  a  wild 
country,  in  almost  Egyptian  darkness.  For  much  of 
the  way  one  of  us  was  obliged  to  walk,  leading  his 
horse,  and  feeling,  rather  than  seeing,  the  path. 

This  General  Hall  was  a  character.  He  had  been  a 
member  of  Congress,  was  a  rich  farmer,  an  active  and 
enterprising  man,  known  through  all  that  country. 
He  prided  himself  upon  keeping,  with  the  aid  of  his 
bright,  intelligent  daughters,  the  best  tavern  in  all  the 
country. 

Our  next  day's  travel  brought  us  to  Ethan  Allen 
Crawford's,  where  we  were  to  stop  before  our  ascent 
of  Mount  Washington.  The  passage  through  the 
Notch  was  very  wild,  and  few  persons  attempted  it 
except  men  from  upper  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
farmers  coming  down  to  Portland  in  winter  to 
exchange  their  butter,  cheese  and  other  farm  prod- 
♦ucts  for  such  articles  as  were  needed  for  their  families, 
and  for  some  supplies  which  would  have  been  better 
for  their  families  if  left  behind.  As  these  journeys 
were  always  in  winter,  the  road  at  the  season  of  the 
year  when  we  passed  over  it  was  little  better  than  a 
bridle-path. 

The  only  house  in  the  vicinity  was  that  of  Crawford. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  63 

It  was  a  small,  old,  unpainted  farm-lioiise  of  one  story 
wliicli  had  been  occupied  by  his  father  before  him. 
It  was  a  tavern,  accommodating  all  travelers,  who 
were  few  except  in  winter,  when  the  snow  made  the 
road  passable  to  the  farmers.  We  had  a  warm  and 
most  hospitable  reception  from  Mr.  Crawford,  named 
for  the  renowned  Ethan  Allen,  of  Revolutionary 
Ticonderoga  fame,  who,  I  believe,  was  some  con- 
nection of  the  family. 

If  the  original  Avas  like  his  namesake  in  the  White 
Mountain  notch,  the  commandant  at  Ticonderoga 
might  well  have  been  pardoned  for  a  shiver  or  two 
when  his  quarters  were  suddenly  invaded  in  the  early 
dawn  by  Allen,  calling  upon  him  in  a  voice  of  thunder 
to  surrender  in  the  name  of  the  Almighty  and  the 
Continental  Congress.  Crawford  was  six  feet  and 
two  or  three  inches  in  height,  with  broad,  deep  chest 
and  stout  limbs,  without  a  pound  of  superfluous  flesh, 
a  Hercules  with  such  an  eye  as  the  Greek  demi-god 
may  have  had,  and  a  bearing  which  plainly  indicated 
the  absence  of  all  fear. 

This  was  our  first  trip  to  the  White  Mountains,  to 
us  as  wonderful  and  mysterious  as  the  Himalayas,  the 
Andes,  or  indeed,  the  mountains  of  the  moon.  Excur- 
sions to  them  for  pleasure  were  rarely  made  in  tliose 
old  days,  and  then  only  by  adventurous  people,  who 
seemed  to  their  wondering  neighbors  almost  to  take 
their  lives  in  their  hands,  their  love  of  excitement 
overpowering  all  prudential  considerations. 

In  the  early  morning  our  host  made  the  necessary 
preparations  for  the  ascent  of  Mount  Wasliiugton. 
There  were  to  be  provisions  for  two  days,  and  there 
was  also  a  very  pretty  keg  of  small  dimensions  and 
fancy  workmanship,  about  which  we  made  no  inquir- 


64  KEMINISCENCES 

ies.  We  set  off,  each  of  iis  with  a  strong  staff,  our 
host  with  a  pack  made  up  of  the  necessary  eatables, 
and  with  the  mysterious  keg  upon  his  back.  We  had 
a  tramp  l)efore  us  of  nine  miles  to  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,  the  path  leading  through  the  original 
forest,  where  to  our  inexperienced  eye  there  were  few 
signs  that  human  foot  had  ever  stepped  before.  We 
were  looking  about  constantly  for  the  sudden  api^ear- 
ance  of  a  bear,  or  possibly  the  spring  of  a  catamount, 
the  leopard  of  the  northern  forests.  But  no  wild 
beast  came  to  make  our  trip  more  exciting. 

At  the  foot  of  the  mountain  we  found  a  camp  made 
expressly  for  travelers.  We  had  never  seen  one 
before,  and  examined  this  with  great  interest.  The 
framework  was  of  poles,  securely  planted  and  fixed, 
each  in  its  proper  place,  and  the  whole  covered  with 
large  sheets  of  bark  from  the  white  birch-tree,  making 
it  perfectly  secure  against  water  and  weather,  except 
on  that  side  open  to  the  south.  Fastened  to  the 
rafters  were  rolls  of  blankets,  kept  there  for  the  use 
of  all  travelers.  Under  the  direction  of  our  guide,  we 
set  to  work  to  gather  hemlock  boughs,  of  which  to 
make  our  Tjecl. 

When  this  work  was  accomplished,  Mr.  Crawford 
called  us  to  a  dinner  prepared  by  him  in  the  very  best 
backwoods  style,  in  which  he  was  an  adept,  having 
had  many  years'  experience.  It  is  no  matter  about 
our  l)ill  of  fare.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  it  was 
aljundant,  and  of  such  material  and  cookery  as  to 
tempt  appetites  far  more  difficult  to  please  than  ours. 
Here  tlie  mystery  of  the  little  keg  was  solved.  Our 
host  took  it  up  tenderly  and  poured  out  carefully  what 
was,  in  his  eye,  a  nectar  for  the  gods.  It  was  old 
Jamaica  rum.     ' '  You  never  saw  the  like  of  it  before, 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  65 

boys!"  No,  we  liad  never  seen  any  before.  "Come 
boys,  take  hold,  lielp  yourselves!  No?  No?  No?" 
were  tlie  exclamations  made  to  each  of  us  as  we 
declined  the  precious  fluid.  He  could  not  believe  his 
ears  and  eyes.  Mr.  Crawford  did  not  know  what  to 
make  of  us,  and  to  our  persistent  declination  only 
added,  "Well,  well,  well!    I  never!" 

One  might  suppose  that  our  host  was  a  slave  to 
old  Jamaica,  like  many  others.  But,  no;  he  never 
exceeded  the  bounds  of  moderation,  and  was  admir- 
ably qualified  for  the  presidency  of  a  moderate  drink- 
ing society.  But,  unfortunately,  such  had  not  been 
heard  of  in  those  days. 

We  slept  soundly  that  night  in  our  birch-bark 
camp,  on  our  fragrant  bed  of  hemlock  boughs, 
wrapped  in  our  blankets,  like  so  many  Indians  upon 
the  war-path.  In  the  early  morning  we  were  on  our 
way  to  the  summit  of  Mount  Washington.  From 
thence,  after  passing  an  hour  or  two,  we  returned  to 
our  camp,  and  then  to  our  tavern,  a  feat  which  Mr. 
Crawford  said  had  never  to  his  knowledge  been 
accomplished  before,  the  ascent  of  the  mountain  and 
the  return  to  the  house  in  the  same  day. 

Among  my  amusements  was  gunning.  Wild  pig- 
eon and  other  small  game  abounded,  giving  plenty  of 
sport  and  practice.  Two  of  our  neighbors  made  a 
business  of  hunting  wild  pigeons  in  the  season,  and  I 
was  often  permitted  to  accompany  them.  Their 
general  method  of  capturing  the  birds  was  with  a  net, 
so  arranged  that  it  would  drop  over  a  flock  that  had 
been  induced  to  alight  to  feed  upon  buckwheat  or 
other  grain  spread  out  to  attract  them. 

It  was  interesting  to  watch  the  tame  pigeons  which 
were  often  used  to  decoy  their  wild  relatives.     They 


G6  REMINISCEI^CES 

seemed  to  miderstaiid  tlie  game  admirably,  and 
almost  invariably  dodged  out  from  under  the  net  at 
the  right  instant  to  free  themselves  without  unseason- 
ably alarming  the  wild  birds.  After  the  net  had 
fallen,  the  poor  pigeons  would  squat  on  the  ground, 
Avith  their  heads  sticking  up  like  so  many  pegs 
through  the  net,  and  the  hunters  would  then  pass 
around,  breaking  each  neck  with  a  pinch.  I  will  not 
say  positively  how  many  would  be  caught  at  a  time, 
and  perhaps  to  me  there  seemed  to  be  more  than  there 
really  were,  but  I  think  it  is  within  bounds  to  say 
that  three  or  four  dozen  was  not  an  unusual  catch 
with  one  drop  of  the  net. 

One  of  these  pigeon  hunters  had  been  a  Revolu- 
tionary soldier,  and  he  occasionally  loaned  me  a  gun 
which  he  said  he  had  carried  in  the  army,  and  it  was 
with  that  old  flint-lock  musket  that  I  did  my  first 
gunning.  "When  I  was  about  fifteen  years  old,  my 
Uncle  Jonathan  gave  me  a  double-barreled  gun,  of 
French  manufacture,  which  he  had  bought  when 
abroad  somewhere  on  one  of  his  sea  voyages.  It  was 
a  flint-lock,  the  best  of  its  kind  for  the  time. 

A  gymnasium  was  located  in  the  "court  end"  of 
the  town,  then  a  long  walk  from  my  father's  house. 
I  was  often  there  early  in  the  morning,  and  fre- 
quently in  the  evening,  and  under  competent  instruc- 
tion became  reasonably  proficient  in  various  athletics 
retjuiring  activity  and  strength,  and  tending  to 
develop  agility,  nerve,  muscle,  and  presence  of  mind. 
My  employments  in  the  tannery  tended  also  to  ])re- 
serve  health  and  promote  vigor,  and  a  rowing  clu):) 
with  which  I  was  connected,  proved  of  great  benefit 
in  these  particulars,  with  the  result  that  I  was 
stronger  than  the  average  man  of  my  size. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  67 

An  incident  connected  with  the  gymnasium  served 
me  well  at  the  time,  and  doubtless  helped  to  give  me 
a  reputation  among  my  townsmen  of  being  quite  able 
to  defend  myself  from  ordinary  assailants,  a  rei)uta- 
tion,  by  the  way,  which,  whether  well  founded  or 
not,  in  more  than  one  instance,  I  am  confident,  saved 
me  from  attack,  and  prevented  assaults  upon  other 
friends  of  temperance  temporarily  under  my  protec- 
tion, who  had  made  themselves  obnoxious  to  the 
liquor-element,  the  rougher  portion  of  which  was 
always  ready  to  resort  to  violence,  especially  when 
incited  thereto  by  drink. 

A  particular  friend  of  mine  came  to  the  tannery  one 
day  (I  was  somewhere  from  twenty  to  twenty -five  years 
of  age)  and  asked  me  to  go  with  him  to  a  select  boxing 
exhibition  that  evening.  I  was  fairly  expert  for  an 
amateur  in  that  sort  of  exercise,  and  was  quite  willing 
to  go.  A  considerable  company  of  our  townspeople 
gathered  to  be  entertained  by  a  ' '  professor  "  in  that 
line  visiting  Portland.  One  after  another  of  our 
young  men  tried  their  hands  with  the  stranger,  and 
after  a  time  there  was  a  call  for  me  to  go  to  the  front, 
(instigated,  as  I  afterwards  learned,  by  my  friend)  so 
loud  that  it  seemed  to  me  wiser  to  yield  than  to 
refuse,  and,  putting  on  the  gloves,  I  did  as  well  as  I 
could. 

On  my  way  from  the  exhibition  my  friend  disclosed 
to  me  the  reason  for  his  urgency  to  have  me  take  part 
in  the  affair.  He  had  learned  that  a  man  about  town, 
who  had  taken  offense  at  something  I  had  said  or 
done,  was  waiting  for  a  favorable  oj^portunity  to 
punish  me,  and  it  seems  that  my  friend  had  induced 
him  to  be  present  also,  with  the  hope  that  what  he 
would  see  would    lead  him  to  abandon  the  under- 


68  REMINISCENCES 

taking.  I  told  my  friend  that  if  my  little  exercise 
tliat  evening  should  lead  to  the  result  he  hoped  for,  I 
should  be  much  gratified.  I  never  heard  from  the 
threat  afterwards. 

My  earliest  business  venture  upon  my  own  account 
was  in  1821,  when  I  was  but  seventeen  years  of  age. 
At  that  time  a  cousin  of  mine,  twenty-one  years  old, 
the  late  Hon.  John  Hodgdon,  who  passed  the  latter 
part  of  his  life  in  Dubuque,  Iowa,  had  inlierited  some 
land  in  eastern  Maine.  Adjoining  this  tract  was 
another  which  he  desired  to  control,  and  he  pur- 
chased one-third,  my  Uncle  Jonathan  another  third, 
while  my  father  bought  the  remainder  for  my  benefit. 
The  purchase  consummated,  my  cousin  and  I  under- 
took the  work  of  surveying  and  plotting  it  into  farm- 
lots  and  disposing  of  it  to  settlers.  We  gave  some 
months  to  the  work,  whicli  was  interesting  and 
instructive  as  well  as  remunerative  to  me.  Our  lands 
included,  I  think,  the  present  thriving  towns  of 
Hodgdon  and  Linneus,  in  Aroostook  county. 

It  was  no  easy  task  to  reach  that  wilderness  at  that 
time.  While  from  Portland  to  Bangor,  and  thence  to 
Oldtown,  the  way  was  over  established  stage-routes, 
beyond  that  for  most  of  the  distance  we  depended 
upon  the  Penobscot  and  Mattawamkeag  rivers  for  a 
highway,  and  a  bateau  for  a  conveyance.  We  were 
literally  comi)elled  to  paddle  our  OAvn  canoe,  or, 
ratlier,  pole  our  own  boat.  This  was  a  large,  flat- 
bottomed  affair,  constructed  so  as  to  float  in  as  shal- 
low water  as  possible.  In,  or  ratlier  on,  this  we  stored 
our  provisions,  surveying-implements,  guns,  and  what- 
ever else  was  necessary  for  camj^ing  out,  and,  with  an 
ex[)erienced  surveyor  and  guide,  and  another  man  to 
help,  began  to  push  our  winding,  watery  way. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  69 

The  guide  we  employed,  in  addition  to  liin  other 
accomplishments,  had  acquired  a  controlling  taste  for 
liquor,  and  made  it  a  condition  previous  to  enlisting 
with  us  that  a  supply  of  intoxicants  should  be  added 
to  our  stores.  To  this  we  consented,  (remember  that 
1  was  not  then  eighteen)  but  I  must  confess  that  we 
kept  the  promise  in  the  letter  rather  than  in  the  spirit, 
for  to  the  great  disgust  and  temporary  indignation  of 
our  assistant,  he  learned  too  late,  as  he  imagined,  for 
his  own  comfort,  that  we  had  furnished  but  a  quart  of 
the  ardent  for  the  entire  trip. 

We  endeavored  to  mollify  his  indignation  and  to 
justify  our  action  by  the  plea  that,  in  our  youth  and 
inexperience  in  matters  pertaining  to  liquor,  we  had 
no  idea  of  how  much  an  able-bodied  drinker  could 
consume.  For  a  while  he  suffered,  or  pretended  to 
suffer,  great  inconvenience  and  hardship  for  want  of 
his  accustomed  beverage,  but  his  enforced  abstinence 
during  the  time  we  were  in  the  woods  worked  a  won- 
derful change  in  his  general  appearance,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  admit,  when  we  came  out  into  civilization, 
that  he  was  in  better  health  than  he  had  been  for 
years. 

Our  only  motive  power  in  this  excursion  was  trans- 
mitted by  our  arms  to  the  poles  by  means  of  which  we 
forced  our  way,  sometimes  against  swift  currents,  for 
I  cannot  remember  how  many  miles,  or  our  legs  when 
we  were  obliged  to  resort  to  the  portages.  In  this  way 
for  many  miles,  probably  seventy  or  eighty,  we  made 
our  journey.  The  picturesque  wildness  of  the  country 
afforded  ever-changing  attractions  to  the  eye.  Fish 
and  game  in  abundance  were  easily  added  to  our 
larder,  and  our  rustic  table  at  night  and  morning  was 
in  this  way  amply  provided  with  that  which  served  to 


70  KEMINISCENCES 

satisfy  our  liealtliy,  work-invigorated  appetites,  such 
as  no  mere  epicure  can  ever  know.  If  by  chance  gmne 
failed  us,  we  were  always  hungry  enough  to  fall  back 
without  complaint  uijon  salt  pork  and  hard-bread, 
which  constituted  the  main  portion  of  our  stores. 

At  one  point  we  came  upon  a  party  of  Indians  fish- 
ing for  eels.  They  had  caught  great  quantities  of 
them,  which  they  were  curing  by  a  mixed  process  of 
drying  and  smoking  for  future  use.  They  had  split 
what  seemed  to  be  a  large  number  that  were  si)read 
out  on  poles  and  protected  by  birch-bark  roofs  or 
coverings  for  the  curing  process. 

We  met  one  day  a  solitary  Indian  after  we  had  been 
for  weeks  out  of  sight  of  civilization,  save  such  as  we 
carried  into  the  wilderness  with  us.  He  passed  us  at 
a  distance  without  a  word,  although  we  repeatedly 
hailed  him.  Our  guide  said  that  was  characteristic 
of  the  redman,  who  preferred  to  be  speechless  for 
months  at  a  time  to  exchanging  a  word  under  those 
circumstances. 

Once  on  this  trip  my  cousin  made  what  seemed  to 
me  a  remarkable  shot.  We  saw  a  duck  floating  on  the 
stream  at  a  long  distance,  a  mere  point  on  the  water  it 
appeared  to  me.  Taking  my  gun,  one  barrel  of  which 
was  loaded  with  ball,  my  cousin  fired,  and,  when  we 
reached  the  spot  to  pick  up  the  bird,  we  found  to  our 
surprise,  two,  each  Avith  its  head  shot  off,  where  only 
one  had  been  seen.  We  concluded  that  they  must 
have  been  exactly  in  line,  one  beyond  the  other,  the 
same  ]:)ullet  decapitating  both. 

I  had  what  sportsmen  would  call  the  good  fortune 
to  shoot  a  l)ear  on  tins  trij),  in  what  is  now  known  as 
the  town  of  Houlton.  A  bear  had  been  committing 
some    dei)redations    in    the   vicinity,   and    we    made 


OF   NEAL    DOAV.  71 

arrangements,  the  three  of  us,  to  kill  the  animal  if 
possible.  We  had  found  three  paths  in  which  it  was 
apparent  the  beast  had  walked,  and  each  of  us  one 
evening  mounted  guard  over  one  of  these.  We  were 
out  of  sight  and  gunshot  of  each  other,  and  to  avoid 
all  danger  of  shooting  one  another  it  was  agreed  that 
neither  should  move  from  his  post  until  after  he  had 
fired,  should  the  bear  put  in  an  appearance. 

I  seated  myself  on  one  end  of  a  fallen  tree,  project- 
ing into  the  path  where  I  was  to  watch,  and  waited. 
It  was  a  dark,  lonesome,  forest  road.  The  wind  was 
blowing  toward  me  from  the  point  from  which  I 
expected  the  bear,  and  I  had  reason  to  believe  that  it 
would  get  near  enough,  if  it  came  at  all,  to  afford  me 
an  easy  shot.  I  was  armed  with  a  double-barreled 
flint-lock  foAvling  piece,  the  best  of  the  kind  extant  at 
that  time,  and  a  large  butcher's  knife,  which  our 
guide  had  reassuringly  suggested  to  me  would  be  use- 
ful in  close  (juarters. 

After  an  hour  or  more  of  silence,  I  thought  I  heard 
a  slight  noise  at  some  distance  down  the  path.  My 
waiting  and  watching  became  immediately  painfully 
intense.  The  noise  drew  nearer,  then  became  inter- 
mittent, as  if  the  approaching  object,  which  I  doubted 
not  was  the  bear,  paused  occasionally  in  its  progress  to 
satisfy  itself  that  all  was  safe.  Happily,  just  at  this 
moment  the  moon  shone  through  the  clouds  so  as  to 
casta  dim,  flickering,  uncertain  light  through  the  tree- 
tops  upon  the  path.  After  what  seemed  a  long  time 
I  made  out  a  dark  body  at  some  distance  shambling 
toward  me. 

As  noiselessly  as  possible  I  cocked  both  locks  of  my 
gun.  Though  in  doing  this  I  raulfled  the  sound  with 
my  cloak  as  well  as  possible,  I  thought  the  animal 


i'2  REMINISCENCES 

heard  it,  for  the  shadow  in  tlie  i^ath  instantly  became 
inotioidess.  It  remained  thus  for  some  moments,  and 
then  came  slowly  toward  me.  Nearer  and  nearer  it 
approached.  I  could  see  it  but  could  not  hear  it,  for 
the  sound  of  my  heart-beats  was  loud  enough  to 
engross  my  entire  sense  of  hearing.  My  knife  was  on 
the  log  before  me,  as  the  guide,  with  the  idea  of  dis- 
tui-l)iiig  my  nerves,  perhaps,  had  cautioned  me  to  be 
sure  and  have  that  ready.  It  was  probably  but  a  brief 
interval,  though  it  seemed  some  time,  before  the  bear 
was  within  gunshot,  but  I  waited  for  a  surer  aim,  and 
a  more  deadly  result,  as  my  gun,  though  loaded  with 
balls  in  each  barrel,  was  not  intended  for  game  of  that 
kind. 

The  bear  was  now  in  full  sight,  and  it  was  a  large 
one.  Suddenly  it  stopped,  threw  up  its  head,  and 
snuffed  the  air.  It  was  now  full  in  such  light  as  the 
half -obscured  moon  afforded.  I  was  confident  that  it 
had  at  last  scented  danger,  and  saw,  or  perhai^s 
imagined  that  I  saw,  the  gleam  of  its  teeth.  Satisfied 
that  its  next  move  would  be  to  retreat,  unless,  indeed, 
to  rush  at  me,  I  took  aim.  My  slight  movement 
arrested  its  attention,  but  its  liead  was  still  elevated, 
and  instantly  it  received  the  contents  of  both  barrels 
in  the  throat.  Its  only  movement  was  to  sit  back  upon 
its  haunches.  It  seemed  to  me  to  be  only  astonished, 
not  hurt. 

For  my  part,  with  one  eye  on  the  l^ear  and  the  other 
on  my  knife,  I  commenced  to  reload.  The  recharging 
of  old-fashioned  muzzle-loading  flint-locks  with  powder 
and  ball  was  quite  a  different  matter  from  slipping  a 
cartridge  into  a  modern  breech-loader.  While  I  was 
thus  engaged,  for  a  moment  or  t\\o  — they  seemed  long 
moments  to  me  —  the  great  brute  sat  there,  api)arently 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  73 

motionless.  Then  it  commenced  to  sway  irom  side  to 
side,  to  nod  its  head  as  if  dozing,  when  at  length,  with 
a  lurch,  it  fell  over  upon  its  side,  lying  there  with 
only  a  convulsive  twitching,  until  all  was  still.  I 
finished  loading,  and,  hallooing  to  my  comrades, 
awaited  their  arrival  before  I  approached  poor  Bruin. 
The  shot  had  evidently  severed  a  great  artery,  and  he 
had  bled  to  death,  as  a  hog  dies  under  the  knife  of  the 
butcher.  Though  he  did  not  prove  to  be  quite  such  a 
monster  as  he  appeared  to  my  intensely  interested 
gaze,  he  was,  so  I  was  told  the  next  day,  above  the 
average  in  size  and  weight.  At  my  age  then  the  affair 
was  to  me  a  great  event,  and,  years  afterwards,  to 
listen  to  my  relation  of  the  incident  was  the  great 
delight  of  my  children  as  they  successively  became  old 
enough  to  be  interested  in  such  stories.  Each  evening 
as  the  little  ones  mounted  my  knee  their  first  demand 
would  be,  "Bear!  more  bear!" 

All  that  region  through  which  we  passed  has  greatly 
changed  in  the  more  than  seventy  intervening  years. 
Where  then  was  the  primitive  forest,  with  scarcely 
other  mark  than  the  paths  trodden  by  their  former 
Indian  denizens,  are  now  to  be  found  as  fine  farming 
lands  and  as  prosperous  communities  as  the  country 
affords. 

In  June,  1825,  shortly  after  I  became  of  age,  I 
started  for  what  was,  at  the  time,  considered  among 
Portlanders  as  a  "grand  tour."  My  route  took  me  to 
Dover,  thence  to  Boston,  where  father  had  charged 
me  with  a  matter  of  business.  I  can  fix  the  date 
because  of  the  oration  of  Webster  at  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  which  I 
heard.  I  went  to  Boston  on  horseback,  the  trip  con- 
suming three  days. 


74  REMIXISCENCES 

An  unexpected  turn  in  the  business  T^ith  which  I 
was  charged  made  it  necessary  that  I  should  retrace 
my  steps  to  Portland,  thus  postponing  my  tour  for  a 
few  days.  I  did  not  regret  this,  however,  as  it  gave 
me  an  opportunity  to  participate  in  the  reception 
which  a  day  or  two  after  I  reached  home  was 
accorded  by  our  citizens  to  General  La  Fayette.  My 
share  in  the  ceremonies  was  confined  to  riding  with 
the  citizens'  cavalcade,  which  met  the  distinguished 
guest  as  he  entered  the  town,  and  escorted  him  to  the 
place  where  he  was  to  be  formally  received  by  the 
authorities.  That  was  a  great  event  to  the  men 
prominent  in  our  little  community,  as  well  as  to  many 
of  us  who  bore  only  a  very  humble  part  in  it.  At 
various  points  in  the  town,  arches  bearing  appropriate 
inscriptions  had  been  erected,  under  which  the  proces- 
sion passed.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  General  La  Fayette 
enjoyed  the  occasion  as  much  as  our  citizens  did. 

Probably  there  was  no  one  taking  part  in  that 
procession  less  known  than  I,  and  certainly  none 
better  known  to  our  citizens  than  the  governor  of  the 
state,  Albion  K.  Parris,  on  whom  ai)plause  was 
bestowed  in  only  less  measure  than  that  given  to  the 
guest  of  the  occasion  by  our  citizens  and  the  crowds 
of  i)eople  from  the  country  who  had  come  into  town 
to  witness  the  affair.  I  little  dreamed  then  that  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  later  Governor  Parris  and 
I  Avere  to  be  rival  candidates  in  the  uiost  exciting 
political  contest  in  the  history  of  Portland,  which 
indirectly  involved  an  issue  that  was  to  attract  to  a 
local  municipal  contest  the  attention  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  our  country.     But  of  this,  more  later. 

A  few  days  after  the  reception  of  La  Fayette,  I 
started  again  on  iiiy  tonr.  going  on  horseback  directly 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  75 

to  my  grandfather's  home  in  Weare,  N.  H.  It  way 
not  what  would  to-day  be  called  an  extended  journey, 
and  is  worthy  of  note  only  as  showing  what  was  in 
those  days  a  matter  of  interest  and  comment. 
Though  covering  but  a  small  portion  of  territory, 
with  the  facilities  of  the  day  for  travel  it  consumed 
as  much  of  time  and  strength  as  a  journey  over  our 
entire  country,  and  perhaps  Europe,  would  now. 
The  trip  was  made  in  part  on  horseback,  in  part  by 
private  team,  or  stage,  in  part  by  canal-boats,  and  for 
some  portion  of  the  way  by  steamboats,  which  had 
recently  come  into  limited  use.  Kailroads  were  then 
unknown.  One  would  not  obtain  from  the  modern 
steamboat  much  idea  of  those  in  which  I  traveled  so 
long  ago;  nevertheless,  for  the  time,  they  were  quite 
imposing  and  sumptuous  affairs. 

After  passing  a  few  days  at  my  grandfather's,  in 
company  with  a  cousin,  Abram  Dow,  I  went  on  horse- 
back into  the  White  Mountain  region,  and,  crossing- 
over  to  Vermont,  came  down  through  that  state  into 
Massachusetts  and  thence  to  Boston.  We  were 
accompanied  by  a  lad  in  a  wagon  carrying  a  rude 
camping  equipage,  and  for  most  of  our  trip  lived  like 
gypsies,  camping  in  the  woods  or  by  the  roadside, 
depending  upon  the  farmers  on  our  way  for  such 
provisions  as  we  did  not  take  with  us,  and  often  help- 
ing out  our  larder  with  gun  and  line. 

My  experience  two  or  three  years  before  in  eastern 
Maine  served  me  well  on  this  occasion  and  put  me  in 
the  lead,  because  my  Cousin  Abram,  though  older  by 
several  years,  knew  little  of  that  kind  of  life. 
He  was  a  strong,  muscular  man,  no  weakness  find- 
ing place  in  his  frame,  as  in  his  spirit  there  was  no 
fear.     He  gave  me  proof  of  both  one  afternoon. 


76  IIEMIXISCEXCES 

We  were  walking  on  some  planks  laid  down  on  one 
of  the  streets  in  Boston,  where  the  way  was  exception- 
ally muddy,  and  were  about  half  way  over,  he  a  step 
or  two  in  advance,  when  we  were  hailed  by  three 
smartly  dressed  young  men — ^they  would  now  prob- 
ably be  called  dudes  —  with  orders  to  turn  back  and 
let  them  have  the  right  of  way.  We  were  roughly 
dressed  in  our  country  traveling  toggery,  and  doubt- 
less were  taken  by  the  "chappies"  as  good  subjects 
for  sport,  perhaps  for  something  more  serious.  I  was 
for  turning  back,  but  Abram  said  "  No!  " 

There  was  just  time  for  me  to  see  the  leader  of  the 
three  raise  a  cane  or  Avhip  and  strike  my  cousin,  and 
then  to  see  a  mixture  of  light  coats,  hatless  heads, 
heels,  legs  and  arms  in  the  mud  by  the  side  of  the 
walk,  as  Abram  had  caught  up  one  after  the  other  of 
his  assailants  and  thrown  each  out  of  his  way.  I 
expected  more  trouble,  l)ut  none  came.  Each  felt 
that  he  had  been  in  the  grip  of  a  giant  —  I  had  before 
that  seen  Abram  lift  a  barrel  of  pork  with  as  much 
ease,  apparently,  as  I  could  take  up  a  bucket  of  water, 
—  and  neither  of  them  cared  to  encounter  again  the 
countryman  they  had  expected  to  easily  drive  into  the 
mud,  in  which  they  had  been  with  so  little  effort 
rolled. 

Returning  to  Weare,  I  stopped  a  week  or  two,  and 
then,  crossing  Vermont,  i^art  of  tlie  way  by  private 
conveyance,  and  part  by  stage,  I  reached  Saratoga  and 
Ballston,  N.  Y.  At  Poughkeepsie,  I  took  a  canal- 
boat,  (it  was  the  year  the  canal  was  opened)  eighty 
miles  to  Utica.  Those  boats,  drawn  by  four  horses, 
ran  night  and  day,  and  had  sleeping  accommodations 
for  passengers,  bunks  at  night  being  put  up  in  the 
cabin  where  by  day  the  table  was  spread  for  meals. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  77 

TliiB  canal  was  then  commonly  called  derisively 
"Clinton's  Ditch,"  by  those  who  had  opposed  it 
because  of  their  hostility  to  Governor  Clinton,  or  wlio 
were  opposing  him  because  they  did  not  approve  of 
that  stupendous  undertaking.  But  this  was  Governor 
Clinton's  year  of  triumph,  and  the  canal  was  opened 
all  the  way  through  to  Buffalo.  At  one  point  along 
the  line  I  was  shown  a  toad  which  it  was  claimed  was 
found  living  beneath  ten  feet  of  solid  rock,  excavated 
when  the  canal  was  in  process  of  construction. 

At  Utica,  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  fall  in  with 
a  Mr.  Vischer,  a  young  Swiss  gentleman  of  rank 
and  fortune,  a  few  years  my  senior.  He  wrote  and 
conversed  correctly  in  English,  and,  as  far  as  I  was 
able  to  judge,  in  French  also,  with  an  equal  command 
of  Spanish,  Italian,  and  German.  He  was  what 
might  be  called  an  amateur  civil  engineer,  that  is, 
without  any  intention  of  following  the  profession  for 
a  livelihood.  He  had  taken  it  up  as  a  matter  of 
interest  and  recreation,  and  had  come  to  this  country 
with  the  intention  of  making  a  careful  examination  of 
the  great  canal. 

Mr.  Vischer  had  letters  of  introduction  to  one  or 
more  important  functionaries,  and  these  secured  for 
him  a  most  cordial  reception  upon  the  part  of  all 
having  anything  to  do  with  the  great  work.  He  was 
able  to  make  arrangements  Avhereby  I  had  better 
■facilities  for  sharing  in  the  festivities  than  I  other- 
wise could,  but  in  some  of  them  I  declined  to  partici- 
pate, as  involving  more  expense  than  I  could  prudent- 
ly incur. 

At  one  point  along  the  line  of  the  canal  I  heard 
Governor  Clinton  make  a  short  address,  and  after- 
wards,  almost  compelled  to  it    by  Vischer,  allowed 


78  REMINISCENCES 

myself  to  be  one  of  a  large  number  who  shook  hands 
with  him.  It  seemed  to  me  an  unpardonable  intru- 
sion on  my  part,  but  Vischer  insisted. 

My  friend  was  greatly  interested  in  many  details  of 
the  work  which  I  would  have  ignored  had  I  been 
alone,  but  under  his  guidance  and  instruction  I  came 
to  examine  them  also,  as  though  my  judgment,  after 
knowledge  of  them,  would  be  of  worth.  Obtaining 
through  my  friend  as  I  did  a  good  opportunity  to  see 
and  get  near  some  of  the  dignitaries  connected  with 
the  ceremonies  attending  the  opening  of  the  canal, 
my  trip  was  extremely  pleasant  to  me. 

My  interest  in  the  canal  thus  aroused,  helped  by  the 
fact  that  I  had  heard  the  Governor  speak,  and  had 
shaken  hands  with  him,  led  me  to  conceive  a  great 
admiration  for  Clinton.  Entertaining  that  feeling, 
and  having  no  other  way  of  manifesting  it,  the  next 
year,  having  bought  a  valuable  horse  of  a  member  of 
the  legislature,  then  in  session  in  Portland,  I  aston- 
ished my  family  and  associates  generally  by  naming  it 
"Governor  Clinton."  It  was  a  fine  horse,  reflecting 
no  discredit  on  the  statesman  whose  name  it  bore,  as 
it  was  a  roadster  of  remarkable  endurance,  serving  me 
well  on  many  trips  between  Portland  and  Boston. 

Vischer  and  I  continued  traveling  companions  dur- 
ing the  remainder  of  my  journey.  To  his  other 
accom])lisliments  he  added  those  of  an  artist,  and 
could  rapidly,  with  the  greatest  facility,  and  as  far  as 
I  could  judge,  with  great  'excellence,  draw  catchy  pen 
and  ink  sketches  of  places  and  persons  that  we  saw. 
We  became  great  friends.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
tour  he  came  to  Portland,  making  a  visit  of  several 
weeks  at  my  father's  house,  which  he  repeated  a  few 
months  later.     Afterwards  he  went  to  Mexico,  where 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  79 

he  passed  several  years.  We  kept  up  our  acquaint- 
ance by  correspondence  until  the  late  forties. 

In  1848,  I  sent  him,  at  his  request,  a  daguerreotype 
of  my  family,  then  numbering  seven.  He  had  written 
to  me,  sending  a  list  of  the  pictures  he  had  in  his 
gallery,  and  telling  me  that  he  would  send  me  my 
choice  of  them  in  exchange  for  such  a  group,  but 
after  sending  the  daguerreotype  I  never  heard  directly 
from  him.  While  in  Europe  in  1857  I  learned  from 
members  of  his  family  that  he  had  died  between  the 
date  of  his  request  and  the  forwarding  of  the  memento 
he  desired. 

His  was  a  strange  case,  I  judged,  from  what  one  of 
his  relatives  said.  He  took  the  teetotaler's  pledge,  she 
told  me,  and  was  killed  by  the  water  he  drank.  She 
said  that  to  me  in  all  seriousness,  not  knowing  that  I 
had  always  been  much  interested  in  promoting  what 
she  evidently  really  believed  to  be  the  cause  of  the 
death  of  our  mutual  friend. 

From  Utica  we  went  to  Buffalo.  Four  miles  out  of 
the  city,  as  I  remember  it,  was  the  Indian  reservation, 
which  we  visited.  There  we  saw  the  famous  Indian 
chief.  Red  Jacket,  who  was  an  old  man  at  that  time, 
and  somewhat  undersized.  We  talked  with  him,  and 
my  friend,  Vischer,  put  on  the  old  chief's  head-dress, 
with  its  plume  of  feathers,  much  to  the  pleasure  of  the 
redoubtal^le  old  warrior. 

From  Buffalo  our  journey  continued  to  Niagara 
Falls,  thence  down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Montreal  and 
Quebec,  back  to  Montreal,  across  Lake  Champlain  to 
Albany,  down  the  Hudson  to  New  York, —  through 
the  streets  of  which,  by  the  way,  hogs,  pigs  and 
poultry  were  roaming  as  freely  as  dogs, —  afterwards 
to  Philadelphia,  from  which  point  we  went  by  stage  to 


80  REMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL    DOW. 

Providence,  E.  I. ,  and  from  Providence  to  Boston,  and 
thence  liome. 

On  this  trip  I  visited  with  intense  interest  many  of 
the  places  made  famous  and  interesting  because  of 
their  connection  with  the  comparatively  recent  war  of 
the  Kevohition.  On  the  boat  I  made  the  acquaintance 
of  a  Revolutionary  veteran  who  particii)ated  in  the 
captTire  of  Stony  Point.  Hoav  the  place  was  captured 
is  a  matter  of  history,  but  I  insert  here  a  brief  account 
recorded  by  me  in  my  journal  at  the  time,  exactly  as  it 
was  related  to  me  by  the  soldier,  who  was  one  of  the 
assaulting  party. 

"  Wayne  was  encamped  at  some  distance,  and  on  one  cold, 
dark,  rainy  night  he  ordered  us  under  arms,  and  we  com- 
menced a  lon<>;  and  fatisuino;  march,  but  at  length  reached  a 
small  creek  which  crossed  our  track,  a  few  rods  from  the 
Point.  He  halted  us,  and  told  us  that  ho  intended  to  surprise 
the  fort  on  Stony  Point.  He  said  the  undertaking  was 
dangerous  and  that  any  one  of  us  who  was  afraid  to  follow 
him  had  leave  to  step  out  of  the  ranks  and  return,  but  not  a 
man  left.  We  forded  the  creek  and  began  to  ascend  when  we 
were  discovered.  Some  one  who  had  seen  us  marching  had 
got  ahead  and  warned  the  British  of  our  coming.  We  pressed 
on,  however,  entering  the  fort,  some  of  us  scaling  the  walls, 
some  climbing  into  the  embrasures,  and  some  going  in  by  the 
gates,  which  were  opened  by  those  who  had  already  got  in  by 
other  ways.  We  did  not  fire  a  shot ;  it  was  all  done  by  the 
bayonet.*' 

My  journey,  Avhich  could  now  bo  performed  in  less 
than  ten  days,  consumed  two  months.  Then  that  part 
of  the  territory  it  covered  in  the  United  States  was  no 
inconsiderable  portion  of  the  country.  Now  it  is  but 
the  ante-room  to  the  greatness  and  magnitude  attained 
by  the  nation  after  trials  and  vicissitudes,  a  growth 
and  progress  all  unanticipated  then. 


CHAPTER   ly. 


MY   E.A.RLY   BUSnfESS   LIFE.         MY   MARRIAGE.         MY   FAMILY. 
SOME    INCIDENTS    OF   MY    LIFE. 


For  a  number  of  years  after  I  was  twenty-one  my 
interests  and  employments  were  varied.  My  father 
took  me  into  partnership  with  him  in  his  tanning 
business  immediately  after  my  return  from  the 
"Grand  Tour,"  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter. 
This  business  was  fairly  profitable,  and  I  was  at  once 
in  receipt  of  an  income  sufficient  for  my  current  wants, 
which  were  not  extravagant,  and  to  permit  me  to  lay 
by  something  for  the  future.  My  passion  for  books 
was  about  all  that  tempted  me  to  expenditures  beyond 
what  was  necessary  to  enable  me  to  properly  fill  my 
station  in  life. 

It  would  be  quite  as  difficult  for  the  business  man  of 
to-day  to  adapt  himself  to  the  methods  prevailing 
when  I  first  went  into  lousiness,  as  for  one  who  was 
acquainted  only  with  the  old  ways  to  conform  to 
modern  systems.  But  integrity,  industry,  economy, 
thrift,  good  judgment,  were  elements  important  then 
as  now,  and  possessed  in  as  large  measure,  and 
examples  set  then  might  in  many  particulars  be 
safely  copied  in  these  later  days.      One  day,  in  the 


82  REMINISCENCES 

''twenties,"  I  was  in  our  court-liouse,  and  desired  to 
change  a  bank-bill  for  those  of  a  smaller  denomina- 
tion. The  county  treasurer,  a  venerable  man,  was 
sitting  at  a  table  upon  which  were  several  piles  of 
bills  of  various  denominations.  I  knew  him  well,  as 
he  did  me.  Approaching  him,  I  asked  him  to  change 
my  bill. 

"I  am  sorry  I  cannot  accommodate  you;  I  have  no 
money. " 

'"Have  no  money?"  said  I  in  surprise.  "Why, 
there,"  pointing  to  his  table,  "is  a  great  quantity." 

"Ah!  but  that  is  not  my  money;  it  belongs  to  the 
county,"  was  the  reply,  which  taught  in  a  word 
volumes  about  the  care  of  money  belonging  to  other 
people. 

When  not  quite  twenty-six  years  of  age,  having 
secured  sufficient  means  to  justify  the  establishment 
of  a  home  for  myself,  I  married  Maria  Cornelia  Durant 
Maynard,  on  the  20th  of  January,  1830.  My  wife's 
father,  John  Maynard,  was  born  in  Framingham, 
Mass.,  in  1766,  where  his  family  had  lived  for  two  or 
three  generations,  the  first  John  Maynard  having  come 
from  England  alwut  1660.  Four  of  the  family  were  at 
the  ])attle  of  Bunker  Hill.  My  wife's  grandfather, 
William,  a  lieutenant  in  Colonel  Mckerson's  regiment, 
was  wounded  there,  carrying  to  his  grave  the  bullet 
he  received  in  his  hip.  He  was  afterwards  made  a 
captain.  He  was  a  school-teacher,  and  subsequent 
to  the  Revolutionary  war,  through  which  he  served, 
went  to  South  Carolina,  where  he  died  in  1783. 

My  wife's  father  went  to  St.  Croix  when  a  youth, 
and  there  met,  and  in  1789  married,  her  mother,  Mary 
Durant,  born  in  the  island  of  St.  Croix  in  1771,  who 
was  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Durant,  then  in  business  in 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  83 

St.  Croix.  He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  George 
Durant,  who  came  to  this  country  from  England  and 
settled  in  Connecticut  in  1633.  He  was  of  Huguenot 
descent,  the  family  having  originally  gone  to  England 
from  France.  After  their  marriage,  my  wife's  parents 
remained  in  -St.  Croix  until  1800.  Returning  to  this 
country  with  his  wife  and  several  children,  Mr. 
Maynard,  who  had  in  the  meantime  accumulated  a 
fortune,  took  up  his  residence  in  Bulfinch  street, 
Boston,  where  his  youngest  child,  Maria  Cornelia 
Durant,  was  born  June  18,  1808.  When  she  was  four 
years  old  her  mother  died,  and  she  Avent  to  Framing- 
ham  and  lived  there  some  time  in  the  family  of  a 
great-uncle,  Jonathan  Maynard,  Esquire,  as  he  was 
always  called. 

Great-uncle  Jonathan  was  a  man  of  means  and  influ- 
ence. A  graduate  of  Harvard  university,  he  had 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  war  in  the  several  grades 
from  private  to  captain.  In  the  summer  of  1830, 
following  my  marriage  in  January  of  that  year,  my 
wife  and  I,  in  our  own  chaise,  made  a  tour  among  our 
relatives  in  New  Hampshire  .and  Massachusetts. 
Among  them  we  visited  Uncle  Jonathan  Maynard  at 
Framingham,  then  a  man  of  seventy-eight.  His  hair 
was  as  white  as  snow,  ]3ut  that  was  not  due  to  age,  but 
to  an  incident  in  his  army  life,  which  is  related  here, 
though  it  has  already  found  its  way  into  print : 

When  a  lieutenant,  Jonathan  Maynard  was  out  with 
a  scouting  party  near  West  Point,  and  with  his  com- 
mand was  captured  by  a  party  of  Indians.  The 
private  soldiers  were  all  tomahawked  and  scalped,  but 
as  he  wore  a  sword  he  was  reserved  for  worse  treat- 
ment, which  he  barely  escaped.  He  was  taken  before 
Brandt,  the  famous  half-breed  Indian  chief,  and  con- 


84  KEMmiSCENCES 

demned  to  be  burned.  He  was  bound  to  the  stake  and 
the  AYOod  piled  around  him  ready  for  the  torch,  but 
just  as  this  was  to  be  applied  he  gave  the  Masonic  sign 
of  distress,  and  Brandt,  who  had  somewhere  been 
made  a  Mason,  recognized  it  and  ordered  the  execution 
deferred.  He  was  subsequently  sent  to-  Quebec  and 
exchanged.  It  was  said  that  his  hair  turned  com- 
pletely white  Avithin  a  very  short  time  after  his  narrow 
escape  from  torture  l3y  flames. 

My  wife's  father,  having  met  with  financial  reverses, 
was  obliged  to  break  up  his  home  in  Boston,  and  came 
with  his  family  to  reside  on  a  farm  which  had  been 
the  property  of  his  wife,  in  Scarboro,  Me.  Maria 
Cornelia  went  to  live  with  an  aunt,  for  whom  she  was 
named,  and  by  whom  she  Avas  brought  up  and  edu- 
cated. This  aunt  was  a  daughter  of  Cornelius  Durant, 
and  the  wife  of  Andrew  Kitchie,  then  a  wealthy 
merchant  in  Boston.  By  her  aunt  she  was  provided 
with  all  the  advantages  of  wealth,  position,  refine- 
ment, and  loving  care.  Subsequently,  upon  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Ritchie,  Maria  Cornelia,  being  then  sixteen, 
went  to  the  family  home  at  Scarboro,  but  soon  came 
to  Portland  to  pursue  her  studies  in  a  private  school 
for  young  women. 

In  Portland  she  lived  for  a  time  with  another  rela- 
tive, a  Mrs.  Frothingham,  whom  I  remember  well  as  a 
most  refined  and  captivating  woman,  then  quite 
advanced  in  years.  I  do  not  recall  her  maiden  name, 
but  she  told  me  that  it  was  at  her  father's  home  in 
Boston,  that  the  famous  Eevolutionary  Boston  "Tea 
Party  "  assembled  prior  to  its  dumping  a  cargo  of  tea 
into  the  harbor.  She  was  at  the  time  old  enough  to 
understand  something  of  what  was  going  on 

Subsequently,  uijon  the  marriage  of  her  sister  Sally, 


Makia  Cornelia  Durant  Maynard. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  85 

Maria  Cornelia  went  t(3  reside  with  her.  Sally  May- 
nard  was  the  senior  of  Maria  Cornelia  by  thirteen 
years.  She  was  her  father's  housekeeper  in  Scarboro, 
and  after  his  death  married  Henry  Smith,  a  respected 
citizen  of  Portland,  whose  first  wife,  an  intimate 
friend  of  hers,  had  died,  leaving  him  with  three  young 
boys,  the  youngest  an  infant  in  arms.  Her  three 
step-sons  all  attained  distinction  in  their  chosen  pro- 
fessions, and  all  paid  to  her  through  their  lives  (she 
survived  them  all)  the  deference  and  respect  an  own 
mother  might  have  expected.  The  eldest  of  them,  the 
•  late  Prof.  Henry  B.  Smith,  of  Union  Theological 
seminary,  New  York,  remarked  to  me  that  it  was  her 
influence  which  had  put  him  when  a  young  man  on 
his  upward  path,  and  kept  him  there. 

At  one  time  during  her  married  life  Mrs.  Smith 
resided  in  Windham,  where  her  husband  was  the 
superintendent  of  some  mills.  Among  their  neighbors 
was  the  father  of  John  A.  Andrew,  afterwards  the 
"war  governor  "of  Massachusetts.  As  a  lad,  young 
Andrew  carried  milk  to  Mrs.  Smith's  house  and 
borrowed  books  from  her  to  read.  Years  afterward, 
when  he  was  governor  of  Massachusetts,  Mrs.  Smith, 
who  happened  to  be  in  Boston,  went  to  hear  him  speak 
one  evening  in  James  Freeman  Clarke's  church. 
After  the  meeting  the  Governor  pushed  his  way 
through  the  aisle  to  where  she  was  sitting,  having 
seen  and  recognized  her  from  the  platform  where  he 
was  speaking.  Greeting  her  most  cordially,  he  said  to 
her  that  it  was  by  her  advice  that  he  first  began  to 
read,  and  he  could  not  forget  his  great  obligation  to 
her. 

Mrs.  Smith  lived  in  Portland  not  far  from  my 
father's  home,  and  it  was  there  that  I  first  met  Miss 


86  REMINISCENCES 

Mayiiard.  I  called  one  evening  with  my  sisters,  who 
had  invited  her  to  attend  with  them  an  entertainment 
in  the  "village,"  as  "down  town  "was  then  called. 
When  Miss  Maynard  appeared  to  get  into  the  sleigh, 
I  excused  myself  from  dismounting  to  assist  her 
because  of  a  lame  ankle  from  which  I  was  suffering. 
When  we.  returned  after  the  entertainment,  despite 
my  infirmity  and  her  remonstrance,  I  insisted  upon 
helping  her  from  the  sleigh  and  escorting  her  to  her 
door.  My  sister  Harriet  remarked  as  I  re-entered  the 
sleigh,  ' '  Neal,  I  am  glad  to  see  that  thy  lame  ankle 
appears  to  be  much  improved! " 

About  two  years  after  this  we  were  married,  and  on 
our  wedding  day  went  to  live  in  the  house  built  by  me 
directly  opposite  the  home  in  which  I  was  born,  and 
where  my  father  resided.  There  our  nine  children 
were  born,  and  there  my  wife  died  on  the  18th  of 
January,  1883,  fifty-three  years,  less  seven  days,  after 
our  marriage. 

Of  our  children,  Edward,  Henry,  Josiah  and  Rus- 
sell Congdon  died  when  about  two  years  of  age,  and 
Frank  Allen  died  in  18()5,  when  eighteen  years  of  age, 
at  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  whither  he  had  gone  in  quest  of 
health,  with  his  mother  to  care  for  him.  Louisa 
Dwight,  our  eldest  child,  married  the  late  Hon.  Jacob 
Benton,  of  Lancaster,  N.  H.,  where  she  yet  resides.  * 
Our  third  child,  and  second  daughter,  Emma  May- 
nard, married  William  E.  Gould,  of  Portland,  and  is 
now  living  in  Boston,  Mass.  The  only  surviving  son, 
Frederick  Neal,  our  fifth  child,  lives  in  Portland. 
The  youngest  daughter,  and  youngest  surviving  child, 
Cornelia  Maria,  is  unmarried,  and  upon  her  mother's 
death  succeeded  to  the  care  of  my  house. 

*  Deceased. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  87 

Wliile  ill  Boston,  when  sixteen  years  of  age,  my 
wife  became  a  member  of  tlie  Old  South  CongTega- 
tional  church.  From  that  church  she  was  dismissed 
to  that  of  Dr.  Payson  in  Portland,  from  this  to  the 
High  Street,  from  there  to  Union,  and  finally  to  the 
State  Street  church  in  Portland,  of  which  she  was  a 
member  at  the  time  of  her  death. 

A  devout  Christian,  her  daily  walk  and  conversa- 
tion was  consistent  with  her  profession.  AVhenever 
her  health  would  permit  she  was  regular  in  attend- 
ance upon  all  the  ordinances  of  the  church  with 
which  she  was  connected,  obtaining  there  inspiration 
and  strength  for  the  consecration  of  her  life  to  the 
service  of  her  Master  through  rendering  assistance  to 
the  least  of  His  children.  Though  these  labors  were 
not  substituted  for  those  of  her  own  household,  but 
added  to  them,  she  never  wearied  in  well-doing.  Her 
sympathetic  nature  led  her  to  constant  charities,  in 
which  she  was  aided  by  her  sound  and  discriminating- 
judgment  to  extend  her  help  where  it  was  deserved. 
Suffering  and  sickness  among  the  poor  within  the 
range  of  her  observation  were  never  left  unnoticed  or 
unrelieved  by  her  when  her  assistance  would  avail. 

A  true  wife  and  noble  woman,  she  bore  with  pious 
fortitude  and  patience  the  many  trials,  great  sacrifices 
and  even  dangers,  of  which  the  world  could  know  but 
little,  that  she  was  obliged  to  encounter  because  of 
the  nature  and  unpopularity  of  the  work  in  which  her 
husband  had  enlisted.  Naturally  retiring  in  disposi- 
tion, and  averse  to  excitement  in  every  form,  she  met 
without  complaint  that  which  now  was  forced  upon 
her.  Convinced  that  it  was  her  duty,  she  obtained, 
and  inspired  other  women  to  assist  her  in  obtaining, 
the  influence  of  a  large  number  of  the  good  women  of 


88  REMIXISCENCES 

Portland  in  favor  of  tlie  cause  to  the  service  of  which 
she  cheerfully  devoted  herself,  and  which  she  aided 
in  many  suitable  ways. 

Later,  when  I  felt  that  duty  called  me  to  enter  the 
military  service  of  our  country,  she  bade  me  God- 
speed. When  my  confinement  in  Libby  Prison  cut  off 
my  correspondence  with  the  English  press,  through 
which  I  had  tried  to  aid  in  the  creation  of  a  senti- 
ment in  England  favorable  to  the  Union,  her  letters 
to  my  friends  in  Great  Britain  were  widely  published 
in  the  same  interest. 

A  devoted  mother,  with  love  and  earnestness  she 
gave  herself  unreservedly  to  all  that  could  make  for 
the  happiness  of  her  home  and  for  the  welfare  of  her 
children.  Surrendering  those  little  ones  Avho  were 
taken  hence,  in  humble  resignation  to  His  will,  she 
longed  for  the  lives  of  those  spared,  in  the  unfaltering 
hope  that  they  might  learn  to  love  and  serve  God. 

Bearing  always  with  her  the  burden  of  our  large 
family,  she  was  never  so  wearied  with  its  cares  and 
responsibilities  as  to  prevent  her  activity  for  any  good 
work  that  she  could  promote.  Wlien  at  length  God 
called  her  she  passed  from  the  earthly  home  she  had  so 
highly  blessed  in  full,  strong  faith  that  there  was 
ready  for  her  "an  house  not  made  with  hands  eternal 
in  the  heavens."  Her  children  and  her  children's 
children  may  well  revere  her  memory. 

The  nature  of  my  business  during  the  earlier  years 
of  our  married  life,  and  the  demands  upon  me  of  a 
more  public  character  later,  took  me  much  from  home. 
On  these  occasions  I  made  it  a  rule  never  to  permit  a 
day  to  pass,  if  I  could  possibly  avoid  it,  without  writ- 
ing at  greater  or  less  extent  to  my  wife,  and,  except 
when  actually  incapacitated  by  sickness,  as  sometimes 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  89 

liappened,  or  prevented  by  circumstances  beyond  my 
control,  I  think  I  can  say  that  I  was  never  absent 
forty-eight  hours  at  a  time  without  thus  writing. 

Subsequent  to  my  wife's  death,  I  found  that  she 
had  preserved  substantially  all  my  letters,  which, 
covering  a  period  beginning  with  the  date  of  the  first, 
in  August,  1830,  and  terminating  in  November,  1882, 
the  date  of  the  last,  and  written,  some  from  towns  not 
twenty  miles  from  Portland,  others  from  distant 
states  in  this  country,  on  shipboard,  from  other  con- 
tinents, or  from  camp,  hospital,  and  military  prison, 
and  covering  almost  every  variety  of  topics  of  current 
interest,  besides  merely  personal  matters,  have  been  at 
my  disposal  to  refresh  my  memory  in  the  preparation 
of  these  memoirs. 

My  copartnership  with  my  father  lasted  until  his 
death  in  1861.  The  style  of  the  firm  was  "Josiah 
Dow&Son,"  and,  in  1861,  my  son,  Fred.,  became  a 
partner,  the  firm  name,  however,  remaining  the  same. 
In  1874,  owing  to  the  illness  of  my  son,  upon  whom 
the  general  care  of  the  business  had  devolved  for 
years,  the  affairs  of  the  copartnership  were  closed,  and 
it  was  dissolved.  At  that  time,  the  firm  name  was 
the  oldest  in  the  city,  the  business  which  it  repre- 
sented having  been  carried  on  by  some  member  of  the 
family  for  more  than  seventy-five  years,  during  which 
period  it  had  successfully  weathered  every  financial 
crisis,  always  paying  dollar  for  dollar. 

Besides  my  general  business,  that  of  the  tannery,  I 
had  time,  means  and  credit  for  outside  matters  of 
more  or  less  local  importance,  and  some  of  them 
proved  fairly  profitable.  A  few  years  after  my  mar- 
riage I  became  again  interested  in  some  timber  lands 
in  eastern  Maine,  and  occupied  considerable  time  in 


90  KEMINISCENCES 

exploring  tlieiii,  in  wliicli  exploration  my  early  experi- 
ence in  similar  matters  with  my  Cousin  Hodgdon 
proved  useful.  Among  others  concerned  in  those 
lands  with  me  at  different  times  Avere  my  friend, 
William  W.  Thomas,  already  referred  to,  and  the  late 
Eben  Steele,  of  Portland,  whom  I  had  known  from 
boyhood,  and  between  whom  and  myself  the  closest 
personal,  social  and  business  relations  existed  as  long 
as  he  lived. 

Success  attended  those  operations  as  a  whole, 
though  at  one  time  we  were  confronted  with  immi- 
nent danger  of  great  loss,  only  averted  by  the 
strength  of  our  combined  credit.  My  last  investment 
of  the  kind  was  with  Mr.  Steele.  The  profits  of  this, 
amounting  to  about  five  thousand  dollars,  were  all, 
at  his  suggestion,  appropriated  for  the  benefit  of  a 
family  in  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  which  we  were 
both  interested,  the  husband  and  father  l^eing  my 
cousin,  and  the  wife  and  mother  his  sister. 

Mr.  Steele  was  a  keen,  sharp,  but,  withal,  honor- 
able, business  man.  He  liked  to  "make"  money, 
perhaps,  as  well  as  any  one,  but  he  had  no  desire  for 
accunuilations  of  wealth  beyond  the  reasonable  figure 
he  early  fixed  as  the  limit  of  the  fortune  he  should 
seek,  and  when  he  had  secured  that'  he  retired  from 
business.  Meanwhile,  as  in  the  instance  above  cited, 
he  found  his  chief  pleasure  in  doing  with  what  he 
could  sijare  the  most  good  to  those  he  deemed  worthy 
of  assistance.  That  portion  of  the  world  within  reach 
of  his  benefactions  was  much  better  and  happier  foi- 
the  life  and  labors  of  Eben  Steele. 

Unless  such  interest  in  timber  lands  may  be  so 
regarded,  I  never  indulged  in  mere  speculations, 
though  always  ready   to    invest  to   the   extent   that 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  91 

prudence  would  permit  in  enterprises,  manufacturing, 
etc.,  projected  in  Portland,  wliicli  appeared  to  be  jus- 
tified on  sound  business  principles.  Among  my 
satisfactory  reflections  is  the  recollection  that  I  have 
been  able,  by  the  loan  of  means  and  credit,  to  assist 
several  to  a  business  start  who  saw  no  other  way 
open.  While  I  have  thus  met  with  losses,  they  have 
not  exceeded  the  gains  others  have  been  able  to  make 
through  the  assistance  and  encouragement  obtained 
of  me.  These  latter  instances  have  afforded  satisfac- 
tion sufficient  to  more  than  balance  my  regret  for 
losses  resulting  from  efforts  equally  well  intended. 

When  twenty-nine  years  of  age  I  was  made  a  bank 
director,  and  filled  the  position  by  successive  elec- 
tions for  over  forty  years.  For  years  I  was  trustee  of 
a  savings  bank,  and  for  a  while  president  of  the 
Portland  Gaslight  company.  I  served  also  in  the 
directorate  of  railroad,  manufacturing  and  other  cor- 
porations. In  the  early  days  of  the  Maine  Central 
railroad  company  I  was  actively  interested  in  its 
promotion,  pledging  to  the  success  of  the  enterprise  a 
large  portion  of  the  means  and  credit  at  my  command. 
At  its  inception  I  was  solicited  to  accept  its  superin- 
tendency,  but  did  not  feel  inclined  to  tie  myself  so 
closely  to  business  as  such  a  position  would  demand, 
and  declined  the  offer  pressed  upon  me  by  my  associ- 
ate directors. 

I  gradually  relinquished  interest  in  business  affairs, 
and  retired  from  active  connection  with  corporate 
management  as  my  time  and  thought  became  more 
and  more  engaged  in  the  subject  with  which  my  name 
has  been  so  closely  connected,  and  to  which  I  have 
given  so  much  of  time  and  strength.  Indeed,  after 
1851,  my  attention  was  largely  diverted  from  business, 


9l>  EEMINISCENCES 

as  I  was  absent  from  lioine  inncli  of  the  time  subse- 
quent to  that  date,  including  more  than  three  years  at 
different  times  in  Europe,  and  two  during  the  war 
for  the  Union.  Hence  my  connection  with  general 
business  has  never  l^een,  since  1857,  much  more  than 
nominal. 

Quite  early  I  began  to  understand  how  useful  to 
one  likely  to  be  interested  in  public  affairs  would  be  an 
ability  to  express  himself  clearly  before  an  audience. 
As  far  back  as  I  remember  I  was  accustomed  to  attend 
the  town  meetings  with  my  father,  when  too  young 
to  go  alone,  and  kept  up  the  habit  when  old  enough 
to  go  unattended.  I  tried  to  ol3tain  practice  myself  in 
the  village  lyceums  and  del)ating-societies,  and  before 
I  was  of  age  was  ])ravely  over  everything  like  ' '  stage- 
fright,"  though  it  was  years  before  I  could  take  the 
floor  without  a  degree  of  nervousness  trying  to  me, 
until  fairly  under  way  with  my  remarks. 

After  attaining  my  majority  I  took  an  interest  in 
general  town  affairs.  Living  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
town,  or  at  some  distance  from  the  major  i^art  of  the 
population,  there  were  frequent  occasions  for  me  in 
the  town  meetings  to  speak  for  the  country,  or  out- 
lying ' '  deestricks, "  as  the  word  was  so  commonly 
pronounced,  which  sections  Avere  often  overlooked  in 
the  expenditure  of  approiniations.  Among  my  first 
pu]jlic  efforts,  I  successfully  led  the  opposition  in  our 
town  meeting  to  an  appropriation  for  a  Latin  school. 
This  was  shortly  after  my  majority,  and  though 
antagonized  by  several  leading  ijrofessional  men  of  the 
town  with  whom  the  project  was  a  special  pet,  I  came 
off  with  tlie  honors  of  victory  in  the  vote,  if  not  in  the 
argument. 

It   will    be   und(n'st()od    tlint    I    pnrticipated    in    the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  93 

debates  in  our  town  meetings  involving  temperance, 
and  in  one  way  or  another  that  subject  was  in  con- 
troversy at  almost  every  annual  meeting  and  at  some 
special  meetings  for  a  series  of  years.  Those  occasions 
were  frecjuently  preceded  by  ])reliminary  gatherings, 
or  caucuses,  in  which  the  del^ates,  always  earnest, 
were  sometimes  personal  in  character,  and  to  hold  his 
own  in  them  with  any  degree  of  success  one  was 
obliged  to  be  ready  in  speech  and  quick  at  repartee, 
with  the  natural  consequence  that  hasty,  inconsid- 
erate, and  freciuently  uncalled-for  remarks  were  made. 
I  received  there  and  elsewhere  my  full  share  of  wordy 
blows,  and  doubtless  tried  to  give  as  many  and  as 
hard  in  return. 

It  certainly  is  to  be  said  that  much  took  place  upon 
both  sides  in  those  early  days  of  the  temperance  move- 
ment far  exceeding  the  bounds  of  courtesy,  and 
possibly  hal)its  thus  contracted  in  early  life  led  to  a 
seeming  disregard  for  personal  feelings  in  the  con- 
troversies of  more  mature  years.  I  can  truthfully  say 
that  in  none  of  those  encounters,  either  of  my  younger 
manhood  or  my  maturity,  has  attack  made  by  me  upon 
any  individual  been  the  outcome  of  personal  ill-will  on 
my  part  toward  the  ol^ject  of  such  criticism.  It  was 
my  intent,  rather  to  combat  the  idea  advocated,  to 
assault  the  position  occupied,  to  condemn  the  evil 
seeming  to  me  to  be  defended.  This  I  felt  called  upon 
to  do  with  all  the  sharpness  and  force  necessary  to 
command  public  attention,  remembering  that  such 
assaults  were  more  likely  to  l)e  effective  in  the  con- 
crete than  in  the  abstract. 

However  those  subjected  to  animadversions  from  me 
may  have  felt,  in  my  own  thought  and  apprehension 
the  difference  between  the   thing   assailed    and  the 


94  EEMINISCENCES 

individual,  wlio,  for  the  time  being,  seemed  to  be 
defending  that  thing  and  in  the  path  of  my  attack, 
was  always  clear;  and  though  some  have  made  a 
personal  matter  of  my  assaults,  on  my  part  there  has 
been  no  more  antagonism  toward  them  than  a  soldier 
in  the  ranks  entertains  for  the  emlmttled  foe  upon 
whom  he  must  fire  with  deadliest  aim.  As  to  some  of 
those  whose  unkindly  feeling,  developed  in  those  early 
contests,  led  to  long  estrangements,  a  subsequent 
change  of  opinion  on  their  part  touching  the  liquor- 
traffic  resulted  in  reconciliation.  Much  as  I  have 
regretted  the  severance  of  friendly  relations  because 
of  such  differences,  and  much  as  I  could  have  desired 
a  restoration  of  cordiality,  it  has  never  been  sought 
nor  accepted  by  me  through  any  sacrifice  of  my  convic- 
tions upon  intemperance  or  whatever  contributed  to  it. 

My  position  in  these  particulars  has  never  changed, 
save  as  with  my  increasing  years  I  have  been  uiore  and 
more  impressed  with  its  terrible  nature  and  extent,  and 
more  and  more  convinced  that  my  duty  as  a  good  citi- 
zen compelled  me  to  oppose  with  the  strength  and 
means  at  my  command  the  nefarious  trade  in  intoxi- 
cants as  fatal  to  the  highest  progress,  prosperity  and 
hapi)iness  of  mankind,  I  have  always  had  a  l)lind  eye 
for  any  signal  to  cease  fighting  that  evil,  have  always 
opposed  compromise  or  truce  with  it  in  any  form, 
and  have  n(>ver  taken  i)ains  to  cultivate  patience  with 
propositions  looking  to  that  end. 

Many  who  have  differed  from  me  as  to  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  evil  of  the  li(iuor-traffic,  and  have 
always  combated  my  methods,  have  had  full  confi- 
dence in  my  sincerity,  and,  in  my  later  years  more 
especially,  even  some  of  those  engaged  in  the  unlawful 
trade  have  on  more  tlian  one  occasion  gone  out  of 


OF    Nf:AL    DOW.  95 

their  way  to  manifest  a  kindly  personal  feeling.  This 
is  in  marked  contrast  to  tlie  bitterness  which  has  been 
cherished  by  others. 

Not  long  ago  a  rumor  obtained  currency  in  Portland 
of  my  sudden  death.  The  next  day  I  met  upon  the 
street  a  man  of  some  means,  the  son,  by  the  way,  of  a 
strong  temperance  man,  and  a  friend  of  mine,  but 
whose  personal  habits  had  led  him  to  wander  far  from 
the  example  of  his  father.  He  approached  my 
carriage,  and,  as  I  waited  to  hear  what  he  had  to  say, 

he    remarked :      ' '  General,    I    was  glad  to   hear 

yesterday  that  you  were  dead ;  I  am sorry  to  see 

to-day  that  you  are  yet  living.'"  I  suppose  the  poor 
fellow  imagined  that  he  had  hurt  my  feelings,  but  the 
nature  of  his  attack  was  so  mild  compared  to  those 
received  from  others  of  his  kind  in  my  earlier  days 
that  his  rudeness  was  scarcely  a  matter  for  surprise. 

After  my  hair  was  whitened  by  years  and  my  form 
bent  with  the  infirmities  of  age,  while  stepping  from 
my  carriage  one  morning,  I  had  a  severe  attack  of 
coughing.  A  well-known  rumseller,  who  was  passing, 
stopped  and  said,  "Ah,  General,  look  out;  you  will 
not  last  much  longer ! "  I  replied,  ' '  But  I  hope  to 
stay  long  enough  to  run  you  off  the  track ! "  "  But 
you  won't,  General,  if  you  do  not  take  care  of  that 
cough,"  he  good  naturedly  said  as  he  passed  on. 

During  my  earlier  and  middle  manhood,  the  police 
of  Portland,  or  "watch,"  as  it  was  called,  was  no 
more  efficient  than  is  apt  to  be  the  case  in  places  of 
small  size.  Individuals  often  had  to  take,  or  imag- 
ined that  they  must  take,  prompt  measures  in  their 
own  behalf,  as  the  only  means  of  securing  adequate 
protection.  The  following  incident  will  serve  to 
illustrate  this. 


96  REMINISCENCES 

One  morning',  in  the  liank  of  wliicli  I  was  a  director, 
the  cashier  called  my  attention  to  a  little  particle  of 
wax  clinging  to  the  old-fashioned  lock  of  the  vanlt. 
We  concluded  that  some  one  had  entered  the  building 
the  night  before  and  obtained  an  impression  of  the 
lock.  No  director  thought  it  of  use  to  notify  any  of 
the  authorities  of  the  circumstance,  but  for  several 
nights,  until  a  new  lock  could  be  obtained,  I,  with 
two  trusty  companions,  members  of  the  fire-company 
of  which  I  was  foreman,  was  in  the  bank,  hoping  for 
an  opportunity  to  arrest  the  would-be  burglar  should 
he  make  a  second  attempt.  But  he  did  not  come, 
though  Ave  took  special  pains  to  prevent  the  fact  of 
our  readiness  for  the  occasion  being  known. 

More  than  once  I  felt  compelled  to  take  the  law  in 
my  own  hands,  leaving  the  other  party  to  recover 
what  damages  he  might  if  he  saw  fit  to  resort  to  the 
courts.  One  day  as  I  came  out  of  a  directors'  meeting 
at  the  bank,  the  messenger  at  the  door  pointed  to  a 
crowd  on  the  street  near  by,  saying  that  a  well- 
known  horse  jockey,  just  driving  away,  had  cheated  a 
poor  country  l^oy  out  of  his  horse.  I  pushed  into  the 
crowd,  including  among  others,  the  mayor  of  the  city, 
and  several  prominent  citizens,  and  found  in  the 
midst  a  country  lad,  eighteen,  or  nineteen  years  old, 
crying,  holding  by  the  bridle  an  old,  broken-down 
nag.  The  poor  fellow,  who  had  been  drinking  a 
little,  told  me,  that  he  had  allowed  the  jockey  to 
harness  his  horse  into  the  wagon  to  try  him,  and 
that  the  jockey  had  driven  off,  leaving  that  old  one 
and  saying  it  was  a  trade. 

I  told  him  to  come  with  me,  and  we  started  for 
the  sta])le  of  the  jockey,  lialf  a  mile  or  more  away,  he 
leading  the  old  horse.     There  I  told  him  to  leave  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  97 

animal.  Out  on  tlie  street  again,  I  saw  the  jockey 
driving  a  good  horse,  which  the  lad  said  was  his.  I 
stepped  into  the  street  and  took  the  horse  by  the 
bridle,  and  just  then  a  man  in  my  employ  happening 
along,  I  called  to  him  to  unharness.  He  did  so.  The 
jockey  kept  his  seat  in  the  wagon,  swearing,  making 
all  manner  of  threats. 

Looking  then  for  the  country  lad,  I  saw  him  peer- 
ing around  the  corner,  afraid  to  come  near  the  irate 
jockey.  I  beckoned  to  him,  and,  placing  the  horse  in 
his  care,  went  back  with  him  to  his  wagon.  After  he 
had  re-harnessed,  the  grateful  boy,  now  thoroughly 
sobered,  said:  "What  shall  I  pay  you?"  "Well,  my 
good  fellow,  you  had  been  drinking,  had  you  not  ? " 
"I  had,  a  little."  "Promise  me  that  you  will  never 
drink  again,  will  you ? "  "I  promise. "  ' ' That  is  all  I 
want.     Good-by." 

Three  or  four  years  later  I  was  standing  on  the 
street  when  some  one  touched  my  elbow.  Looking 
around,  I  saw  a  countryman,  grinning  and  i^ointing 
to  a  horse.  "That's  him."  "What  do  you  mean T' 
' '  That's  the  horse  you  got  back  for  me,  and  I  ain't 
drunk  a  drop  since,  and  I  won't  ever  again." 

However  grateful  that  country  boy  may  have  been, 
it  will  be  easily  believed  that  the  jockey,  and  others 
of  his  stripe  with  whom  I  came  in  contact  for  equally 
reasonable  causes  during  a  period  of  twenty  or  more 
years,  honored  me  with  persistent  dislike,  and  that 
wherever  such  as  he  congregated,  denunciations  of 
Neal  Dow  were  as  common  and  vehement  as  potations 
were  plentiful  and  strong. 

Indeed,  there  was  an  element  always  ready  to  vent 
its  spite  upon  me  whenever  it  could  be  done  without 
risk.     During  several  years  I  found  it  prudent,  after 


98  REMINISCENCES 

two  or  three  attacks  upon  me,  when  walking  at  night 
about  the  city,  generally  very  poorly  lighted,  to  keep 
the  middle  of  the  street  to  avoid  any  disposed  to 
spring  upon  me  from  behind  a  tree,  out  of  a  doorway 
or  around  a  corner,  as  I  had  learned  from  experience 
that  there  were  those  who,  though  shunning  an  open 
encounter,  were  willing  to  strike  if  they  could  take 
me  at  a  disadvantage.  I  do  not  recall,  however,  being 
attacked  twice  by  the  same  person. 

One  story  is  apt  to  suggest  another.  My  father 
owned  a  horse,  the  pet  of  the  family,  which,  when 
over  twenty-eight  years  old,  was  sent  into  the  country 
to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  with  a  farmer  who 
promised  the  best  of  care,  and  to  send  information  at 
regular  intervals  about  the  old  animal.  Some  months 
after,  I  saw  "Old  Charlie"  in  town  in  charge  of  two 
rough  fellows,  who  said  they  had  bought  him.  I 
stopped  them  and  told  a  l^oy  standing  near  to  unhar- 
ness the  horse  and  take  him  to  his  old  quarters  in  my 
father's  stable,  where  he  remained  as  long  as  he  lived. 
Suit  was  brought  against  me,  and  the  case  was  finally 
decided  in  my  favor  after  a  disagreement  of  two 
juries,  each  of  which  included  a  rumseller.  My 
lawyer  charged  me  seventy-five  dollars,  but  "Old 
Charlie  "  was  saved  from  the  abuse  he  certainly  would 
have  suffered,  and  all  trouble  for  the  rest  of  his  life, 
and  I  thoTight  it  cheap  at  the  i^rice. 

I  was  walking  down  Exchange  street  one  day,  the 
principal  street  of  the  city,  and  met  the  late  Chief 
Justice  Whitman,  his  face  in  a  broad  smile.  His 
Honor,  by  the  way,  was  a  Proliil)itionist,  and  one  of 
my  personal  friends.  On  my  asking  him  what  had 
pleased  him,  he  {jointed  down  street  to  a  crowd  col- 
lected in  front  of  a  rumshop.     Passing  along  I  lewrned 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  90 

that  the  wife  of  a  well-known  teamster  was  inside, 
breaking'  the  bottles  and  smashing  the  bar  furniture 
generally. 

She  had  Avarned  the  keeper  not  to  sell  rum  to  her 
husband,  and,  not  being  heeded,  she  had  just  horse- 
whipped him  and  was  sacking  his  shop.  Such  irregu- 
larities could  not  be  permitted,  and  she  was  arrested 
and  tried.  Appearing  in  court  without  counsel,  she 
asked  that  I  be  assigned  as  such,  evidently  preferring 
an  advocate  on  whose  full  sympathy  she  could  rely 
rather  than  one  more  learned  in  the  law  and  trained 
in  the  trial  of  causes.  The  judge  consenting,  I  under- 
took the  task.  While  not  vouching  for  my  law,  I 
remember  that  my  argument,  or  exhortation  —  it  was 
my  first  and  only  appearance  before  a  jury  —  was 
earnest. 

My  client  was  found  guilty,  however,  with  a  recom- 
mendation to  mercy,  and  got  off  with  a  slight  fine, 
which  I  paid.  It  was  little  enough  for  the  oppor- 
tunity I  had  secured  in  defending  her  to  present  in 
that  temple  of  justice,  to  the  assembled  lawyers  as 
well  as  to  the  jury,  some  positive  views  upon  the 
temperance  question  in  general  and  the  liquor-trafiic 
in  particular.  The  poor  woman  was  fully  compen- 
sated for  her  trouble  and  notoriety  by  the  sympathy 
of  almost  our  entire  community,  a  fact  which  perhaps 
had  something  to  do  with  the  subsequent  alleged 
reformation  of  the  rumseller  whom  she  had  flogged." 

Years  later,  after  the  enactment  of  the  prohibitory 
law,  that  rumseller  closed  his  shop  and  removed  his 
liquors  to  a  private  house.     It  was  soon  ascertained 

*  On  the  day  of  tlie  funeral  of  General  Dow  a  letter  was  received  in 
Portland  from  this  ex-rumseller,  in  which  he  had  written:  "I  am  glad 
to  have  lived  to  know  that  my  natural  enemy,  Neal  Dow,  is  dead," 


100  REMINISCENCES    OF   XEAL   DOW. 

tliat  lie  was  selling  liquor  there.  Officers,  with  a 
searcli  warrant,  went  to  this  house  one  morning,  and 
saw  the  runiseller  put  a  bottle  into  a  large  new  safe, 
which  he  closed  and  locked.  He  was  ordered  to  open 
it,  but  refused.  One  of  the  officers  came  to  me  (I  was 
then  mayor)  to  ask  instructions.  I  told  him  to  get  a 
machinist  and  force  the  safe  if  the  owner  persisted  in 
a  refusal  to  open  it,  and  that  I  would  stand  between 
him  and  harm. 

My  orders  were  obeyed,  the  safe  forced,  and  found 
filled  with  an  assortment  of  liquors,  which  were 
seized.  The  newspapers  opposed  to  Prohibition  rung 
the  changes  on  "High-Handed  Proceedings"  and 
everything  else  to  create  prejudice  and  hasten  the 
reaction  they  were  anticipating  against  the  law.  But 
the  runiseller,  whose  safe  was  ruined,  concluded, 
after  consulting  counsel,  not  to  spend  money  in  a 
useless  suit  for  damages.  Not  long  after  that  he  put 
up  a  "notise"  in  his  window,  "  Gorn  out  of  Bisness." 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE    OLD    FIRE-DEPARTMENT    OF    PORTLAND.         MY    CONNEC- 
TION    WITH     IT.         THE     NEW     ORGANIZATION. 
THE     DELUGE     ENGINE-COMPANY. 
CHIEF   ENGINEER   OF   THE 
DEPARTMENT. 


When  eighteen  years  of  age  I  joined  the  Volunteer 
fire-department  of  Portland,  and  retained  connection 
with  it  for  more  than  twenty -five  years.  Some  notice 
of  this  is  appropriate,  as  it  had  something  to  do  with 
the  temperance  movement  in  Portland  in  the  earlier 
days  of  that  reform.  The  laws  of  Massachusetts  con- 
tinued to  be  those  of  Maine  for  some  time  after  the 
separation.  Among  them  was  that  requiring  every 
citizen  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five 
to  perform  military  duty  in  the  militia.  There  were 
exemptions  from  this,  among  them  members  of  the 
society  of  Friends  and  members  of  any  fire-department. 

Although  born  and  reared  a  Friend,  I  did  not  care 
to  claim  exemption  on  that  account,  as  my  objection 
to  serving  in  the  militia  had  otlier  foundation  than 
that  obtaining  with  the  Friends,  from  which  society  I 
was  already,  in  fact,  drifting.  Indeed,  I  may  as  well 
pause  here  to  state  that  about  this  time  my  views  as 
to  the  propriety  of  resorting  on  occasion  to  "carnal 


102  EEMINISCENCES 

■weapons,"  and  especially  as  to  war,  under  certain 
conditions,  becoming  known,  the  quarterly  meeting  of 
Friends,  in  which  I  had  a  birthright,  appointed  a 
committee  to  deal  with  me. 

I  remember,  as  if  a  recent  event,  the  call  of  the 
thi-ee  elders  upon  me  for  the  purpose.  They  found 
me  at  my  father's  house,  and  we  had  a  private  session 
in  the  parlor,  the  three  sedate  old  Quakers  sitting 
with  hats  on,  more  amused,  probably,  by  my  persis- 
tency than  disturbed  by  my  departure  from  the  faith. 
After  a  half -hour  or  more  of  pleasant  intercourse  upon 
various  subjects,  they  departed  to  report  me  as  incor- 
rigible.    My  dismissal  from  the  society  followed. 

Our  musters,  attendance  at  which  was  obligatory 
upon  all  the  enrolled  militia,  were  little  else  than 
burlesque  occasions  or  days  for  drunkenness,  and 
much  that  was  worse.  Position  in  line  was  by  no 
means  confined  to  uniformed  companies.  These  were 
on  hand,  to  l^e  sure,  in  all  their  finery,  with  much 
fuss  and  parade,  their  commanders  resplendent  in 
feathers  and  epaulettes  and  whatever  else  of  glittering 
tinsel  they  could  attach  to  their  persons.  But  how- 
ever credital)le  their  appearance,  it  served  only  as  a 
foil  to  the  mass  of  the  militia  gathered  from  far  and 
near  in  every  conceivable  garb,  often  purposely  made 
up  to  excite  amusement  and  ridicule. 

I  recall  a  laughable  incident  in  connection  with  one 
of  those  occasions.  In  the  band,  on  the  right  of  the 
column,  was  a  little,  short-legged  bass  drummer, 
whose  head  and  feet  were  visible  respectively  above 
and  below  his  big  drum,  wliich  absolutely  concealed 
from  those  in  front  the  rest  of  his  jjerson.  In  those 
days  hogs  ran  as  freely  through  the  streets  as  dogs  do 
now,    and    were    more    numerous.      One    of    these 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  103 

animals,  frightened  by  sometliing,  running  from  one 
side  of  the  street  to  the  other,  dashed  between  the 
legs  of  the  little  drummer,  and,  taking  him  ofl  his 
feet,  carried  him,  drum  and  all,  until  he  threw  him 
off  at  some  distance  in  advance  of  the  procession. 

This  incident  was  hardly  more  ridiculous  than 
some  of  the  evolutions  performed  in  good  faith  at 
these  musters,  which  did  nothing  to  fit  those  who 
participated  in  them  for  soldiers,  but  much  to  dis- 
qualify many  for  good  citizenship.  They  were  often 
the  occasion  of  most  disgraceful  exhibitions  of 
drunkenness.  When  not  more  than  twelve  years  of 
age,  I  pulled  a  boy,  not  older  than  myself,  to  the 
sidewalk  from  the  street  where  he  had  fallen,  drunk 
with  liquor  obtained  from  one  of  the  sutler's  tents,  at 
that  time  invariably  surrounding  muster-fields.  At 
another  muster,  to  my  intense  horror  and  disgust,  I 
was  fallen  on  and  held  down  by  a  drunken  man. 
The  feeling  then  engendered  was  ever  after  associated 
in  my  mind  with  those  gala-days  of  the  old-time 
militia. 

Musters,  however,  furnished  fun  and  military  titles 
in  great  profusion.  "Generals"  and  "Colonels" 
abounded  in  every  county,  and  "Majors"  and  "Cap- 
tains "  were  to  be  found  in  every  town.  Those  with 
no  desire  for  that  kind  of  fun,  or  for  titles  earned 
through  such  Falstafiian  commands,  sought  exemption 
from  service  in  the  militia,  and  I  was  one  of  them. 
For  these  and  other  reasons,  many  of  our  most 
enterprising  and  influential  young  men  were  attracted 
to  the  Volunteer  fire-dei)artment  of  Portland.  They 
were  not  averse  to  military  duty,  had  real  occasion 
called,  for  I  was  authorized  by  a  large  number  of 
them  at  the  time  of  the  northeastern  boundary  excite- 


104  EEMINISCENCES 

inent,  or  what  is  commonly  known  in  Maine  as  the 
"Aroostook  war,"  to  write  to  the  governor  to  say, 
' '  The  firemen  of  Portland  can  be  depended  upon  for 
a  regiment  if  necessary."  The  rolls  of  the  depart- 
ment when  I  became  connected  with  it,  and  for  years 
thereafter,  bore  the  names  of  many  who  became  lead- 
ing citizens  of  Portland  in  various  walks  of  life. 

'The  exemption  of  firemen  from  military  duty  was 
not  approved  by  the  general  ofiicers  of  the  militia,  as 
it  kept  from  under  their  command  much  good  material 
for  training.  Some  officers  ineffectually  tried  to  have 
the  law  changed  in  that  particular.  So  long  as  I  was 
connected  with  the  fire-department,  I  was  always  on 
hand  before  legislative  committees,  or  elsewhere,  to 
opi^ose  such  changes,  and  on  that  ground,  if  no  other, 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  some  of  the  "generals." 

When  I  joined  the  department  in  1822,  it  was  a 
purely  voluntary  and  largely  a  social  and  mutual  pro- 
tection organization.  The  members  of  the  various 
companies  bound  themselves  to  protect  each  other's 
property.  In  case  of  fire  they  hastened  to  the  scene, 
each  provided  with  a  bucket,  a  bag  and  a  bed-wrench, 
(the  latter  for  taking  down  old-fashioned  bedsteads) 
prepared  to  render  what  service  he  could  to  his  fellow- 
members,  if  by  chance  their  property  should  be 
threatened  by  the  flames.  Once  at  the  fire,  however, 
members  could  generally  be  dei)ended  ui)on  to  heli) 
even  if  the  property  of  an  associate  was  not  exposed  to 
danger.  All,  in  any  event,  expected,  and  generally 
had,  "  a  good  time." 

Such  engines  as  the  department  had  were  of  cheap 
construction  and  little  power,  and  were  generally  out 
of  order  when  their  services  were  needed.  They  were 
equipped  with  from  ten  to  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  of 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  105 

small  leading-liose,  bad  no  suction  facilities,  and  their 
supply  of  water  was  passed  from  wells  in  buckets  by 
lines  of  men,  frequently  assisted  by  women  and  boys. 
For  lack  of  leading-hose  the  engines  were  necessarily 
placed  very  near  the  fire,  whence,  if  unable  to  control 
it,  they  were  usually  driven  away  by  the  heat,  leaving 
the  burning  building  to  be  destroyed,  unless  torn 
down  to  protect  contiguous  property. 

One  engine  imported  from  England  in  1802,  I  think, 
for  many  years  was  not  known  to  be  a  suction-engine, 
able  to  draw  its  own  water.  This  fact  was  not  ascer- 
tained until  the  old  engine  had  become  so  obsolete 
that  it  was  set  aside  as  a  curiosity.  It  ended  its 
career  in  the  great  Portland  fire,  being  ignominiously 
destroyed  by  the  element  it  had  for  years  combated. 
To  the  present  generation,  familiar  only  with  modern 
appliances  for  fighting  fire,  the  old-fashioned  methods 
to  which  we  were  obliged  to  resort  would  appear 
absurdly  inadequate  and  grotesque. 

That  old  fire-department  did  not  last  long  after  I 
became  connected  with  it.  Shortly  after  my  majority, 
I  prepared  a  bill  which  was  enacted  by  the  legislature, 
then  in  session  in  Portland,  under  which  our  fire- 
department  was  remodeled.  The  first  engine  procured 
for  the  new  department  came  from  Philadelphia,  the 
others  from  Boston,  and  all  were  of  nearly  equal 
power.  The  numlier  of  men  connected  with  the 
department  when  at  its  best  was  about  seven  hundred. 
The  engine,  hose,  and  hook-and-ladder  companies  took 
great  pride  in  their  machines,  and  spent  considerable 
money  in  their  adornment  and  in  keeping  them  in 
perfect  order.  One  of  them  was  called  the  ' '  Deluge 
company."  Its  engine  was  a  large,  double-decked 
machine,  weighing  nearly  two  tons,  of  considerable 


106  EEMIKISCEKCES 

power  for  tlirowing  water,  but  witliont  suction  facili- 
ties, ill  lieu  of  Avliicli  tliere  was  a  companion  engine  to 
supply  the  water  to  be  thrown  upon  the  fire. 

The  first  meeting  of  that  company  was  on  the  3d  of 
April,  1827.  I  was  chosen  clerk.  The  three  directors 
were  prominent  citizens.  Among  the  members  whom 
I  now  recall  were  such  well-known  citizens  as  John  B. 
Brown,  afterwards  understood  to  be  the  wealthiest 
man  in  Maine;  Andrew  T.  Dole,  for  a  time  postmaster 
of  Portland,  under  President  Lincoln,  and  William 
Seiiter,  afterwards  mayor.  There  were  a  number  of 
others,  perhaps  equally  prominent,  whose  names  have 
escaped  my  memory. 

I  served  as  clerk  of  the  company  four  years,  when  I 
was  chosen  first  director,  or  captain,  acting  in  that 
capacity  until  April,  1837.  I  must  have  been  quite 
impressed  with  the  dignity  and  importance  of  that 
position,  judging  from  a  letter  written  by  me  from 
Augusta  to  my  wife,  nearly  sixty  years  ago: 

"I  called  to  see  Miss ,  the  elder,  and  Avent  with 

Colonel  Keddinoton  over  the  river  to  where  she  was  si)endinii- 
the  evening.  To  our  sur})rise,  we  found  twelve  to  fourteen 
persons,  one  reverend  and  grave  senator  and  a  Conscript 
father,  all  on  the  floor  playing  '  Goose,'  in  which  I  was 
importuned  to  join.  Not  knowing  anything  of  the  noble 
game  of  '  Goose,'  I  declined  at  first,  hut  after  a  time  the 
beautiful  liostess  l)ecame  fatigued,  and  I  was  politely  and 
earnestly  requested  to  relieve  her  by  taking  her  })lace,  which 
of  course  I  could  not  refuse  to  do.  So  I,  a  deacon-like  over- 
seer of  the  i)oor,  a  school-committee  man,  and  captain  of  the 
never-sufficiently-to-l)e-praised  and  admired  Dcduge  company, 
commenced  hoj)pinu-  al)out  with  all  the  agility  of  a  l)oy  of 
fourteen,  crying  'Goose,'  and  tagging  my  com])anion  boys 
and  girls.  After  we  all  got  fairly  tired  out  with  this  exceed- 
ingly captivating  game,  we  went  to  work  with  great  zeal  in 
playing  '  Hunt    the  Thiinl)le,'  which  we  pursued  witli  great 


OF   XEAL    DOW.  107 

energy  and  spirit.     I  declare  I  felt  myself  carried  back  in  the 
stream  of  time  at  least  eighteen  years." 

Ill  anotlier  letter  to  my  wife,  written  about  the  same 
period  from  Boston,  I  find  the  following: 

"  Before  I  returned  to  my  hotel  the  bells  rang  for  fire, 
which  you  know  is  a  very  '  solemncholy'  sound  to  me. 
Instantly  the  streets  were  filled  with  firemen  and  their  appara- 
tus, among  which  I  noticed  Engine  '  Xo.  18,'  like  mine,  only 
she  is  not  so  handsome,  though  she  makes  more  noise,  for  she 
has  mounted  upon  her  eighteen  bells,  all  large,  which  make  a 
terrible  racket.  But  my  engine,  though  perfectly  conscious 
of  her  beauty,  is  quite  modest  withal.  But  the  fire  turned 
out  to  be  only  a  sham,  after  all.  If  you  ask  me  if  I  was  sorry, 
I  shall  not  answer." 

Every  old  volunteer  fireman  in  the  country  can  see 
by  that  extract  that  the  spirit  which  filled  the  craft 
had  possession  of  me  —  quite  willing,  if  there  must  be 
a  fire,  to  have  it  occur  when  and  where  one  could 
attend  it. 

While  captain  of  the  Deluge  engine-company,  an 
incident  occurred  of  some  local  import  that  may  be  of 
interest  here,  and  serve  to  further  illustrate  the 
general  lack  of  reliance  upon  the  "watch "  of  the  day. 
In  the  heat  of  the  earlier  antislavery  excitement,  a 
meeting  had  been  announced  to  be  held  in  the  Friends' 
church,  to  be  addressed  by  some  antislavery  si)eakers 
from  Massachusetts,  and  it  became  known  that  an 
attempt  would  be  made  to  "mob"  it.  The  mayor 
asked  me  to  be  present  and  to  assist  in  preserving 
order,  the  watch  being  entirely  inadequate  to  cope 
with  the  impending  emergency. 

I  immediately  suggested  a  plan  through  which  I 
could  guarantee  the  protection  of  the  meeting,  and 
obtained  his  approval.     I  sent  messengers  to  summon 


108  KEMINISCEIs-CES 

to  the  engine-house  at  an  early  hour  some  thirty  or 
forty  of  the  menil^ers  of  my  engine-company  upon 
whose  pluck,  discretion  and  loyalty  to  myself  I  could 
fully  rely.  At  the  hour  appointed  I  met  them  there, 
and  liriefly  stated  my  intention  to  prevent  a  crowd  of 
roughs  from  interfering  with  the  contemplated  anti- 
slavery  meeting.  They  decided  to  a  man  to  sustain 
me,  and  I  led  them  quietly  to  the  meeting-house,  and 
into  the  aisle,  where  we  arrived  in  good  season,  and 
formed  in  two  lines,  leaving  a  passage  between,  so 
that  everybody  disposed  could  pass  to  take  seats. 

The  house  was  soon  crowded,  the  would-be  rioters 
evidently  mistaking  some  of  my  men  for  their  sympa- 
thizers. I  sat  at  the  head  of  my  "  column  "  of  firemen, 
near  the  speakers.  Next  me  were  two  of  my  company 
whom  I  had  selected  for  the  head  of  the  line,  men  of 
unusual  physique,  strength  and  agility,  of  undoubted 
pluck  and  determination.  By  this  time  half  a  dozen 
of  the  roughs  had  worked  their  way  to  the  front,  close 
to  the  speakers,  ready  to  open  the  "fun  "they  were 
there  to  enjoy. 

The  first  speaker  had  not  occupied  the  floor  more 
than  a  minute  before  one  of  these  "toughs  "  shouted, 
with  an  oath,  "Don't  tread  on  my  toes! "  "  Take  care 
of  that  fellow!"  was  my  order.  My  two  stout  file- 
leaders  seized  him  by  the  collar,  and  he  went  down 
that  aisle  and  out  of  the  door  like  a  projectile  from  a 
catapult.  "Number  Seven,  do  not  hurt  any  man  who 
behaves  himself!  "  was  the  next  order,  and  everything 
was  as  quiet  and  orderly  throughout  the  remainder  of 
the  meeting  as  at  a  religious  gathering.  At  its  close 
the  company  furnislied  a  guard  for  the  speakers  to 
their  respective  domiciles,  and  what  threatened  to  be 
a  disgrace  to  the  city  was  suppressed  by  the  foresight 


OF   NEAL   DOAV.  109 

of  the  mayor  and  the  good  discipline  and  love  for 
order  of  my  old  Deluge  engine-corn i)any. 

In  1837  I  was  made  chief  of  the  department.  I  took 
great  pride  in  making  it  thoroughly  efficient,  and  was 
so  far  successful  that  I  think  there  was  none  in  the 
country,  in  proportion  to  numbers  and  extent  and 
tiuality  of  apparatus,  superior  to  it.  Its  members 
were  picked  men,  so  that  the  department  as  a  whole 
cheerfully  sul^mitted  to  a  rigid  discipline,  priding 
itself  upon  the  fact  that  its  evolutions  were  performed 
with  the  rapidity  and  precision  of  a  military  drill. 
Disobedience  to  orders,  or  other  insubordination 
amounting  to  ' '  conduct  unbecoming  a  gentleman, " 
rendered  the  offender  liable  to  expulsion. 

My  connection  with  the  department,  and  especially 
my  service  as  chief  engineer,  had  something  to  do 
with  my  acquiring  a  measure  of  local  influence  and  a 
personal  following  of  young,  reliable  men,  then  and 
afterwards  made  to  serve  the  promotion  of  temperance, 
in  which  subject  I  was  already  taking  an  interest. 
The  fire-department,  orderly,  well-disciplined,  efficient 
and  respectable  in  its  personnel,  was  far  from  being  a 
total  abstinence  society,  and  included  many  men 
whose  views  upon  the  general  question  of  temperance 
differed  widely  from  mine.  I  found  therein,  there- 
fore, a  useful  field  for  labor,  which  the  confidence 
and  respect  entertained  for  me  by  its  meml)ers,  almost 
without  exception,  enabled  me  to  improve  to  further 
the  cause. 

During  my  connection  with  the  department,  my 
influence  was  constantly  exerted  to  develop  a  senti- 
ment which  should  exclude  liquors  from  the  engine- 
houses  and  prevent  their  use  upon  public  occasions. 
This  was  no  easy  task.     The  various  companies  were 


110  REMINISCENCES 

accustomed  to  celebrate  their  anniversaries  and  other 
events  with  dinners,  more  or  less  formal,  according  to 
the  tastes  of  the  committees  in  charge,  or  the  means 
at  their  disposal.  These  were  sometimes  held  in  the 
engine-honses,  sometimes  in  the  town  hall,  and  some- 
times at  hotels.  My  first  speech  upon  temperance  was 
made  while  I  was  clerk  of  the  Deluge  company,  in 
opposition  to  a  motion  to  instruct  the  committee  in 
charge  of  a  proposed  celebration  to  provide  liquors. 
The  company  adopted  my  views. 

So  far  as  I  am  aware,  it  was  the  first  affair  of  the 
kind  in  Portland  from  which  liquors  were  excluded, 
and  naturally  attracted  attention  and  excited  a  great 
deal  of  comment,  favorable  and  otherwise, — at  first 
largely  otherwise  —  among  the  firemen.  As  a  result 
of  the  example  then  set,  and  the  co-operation  of 
members  of  the  department  entertaining  similar  views 
with  myself,  after  a  while  it  came  to  be  the  rule  to 
exclude  liquors  from  the  entertainments  of  the  various 
companies,  with  the  possible  exception  of  one  noted 
below.  This  required,  perhaps,  as  much  tact  as  perse- 
verance, but  in  time  the  arrangement  was  submitted 
to  with  good  grace,  all  a])proving  it  with  ostensible 
cheerfulness,  although  occasional  pleasantries  at  these 
gatherings  suggested  that  there  were  those,  probably 
many,  who  preferred  what  they  called  ' '  the  good  old 
way." 

One  of  the  companies  considered  itself  a  very 
genteel  organization  indeed.  It  was  equipped  with 
apparatus  as  good  as  the  best,  and  was,  in  fact,  a  fine 
body.  It  included  many  so-called  "society"  men, 
who  occasionally  aitpeared  in  full  evening  dress  at  the 
scene  of  a  conilauration,  to  which  they  had  hurried 
from  some  social  function.     This  led  sometimes  to  the 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  Ill 

jocular  remark  by  meml^ers  of  other  companies  that 
the  men  belonging  to  thia  company  could  not  appear 
at  a  lire  unless  neatly  shaven.  Its  members  were 
always  promptly  on  hand,  nevertheless,  and  always 
ready  and  able  to  do  their  full  share  of  work.  At 
social  entertainments  of  this  particular  company, 
there  were  great  "spreads,"  and  what  they  called 
"right-down  good  times,"  often  participated  in  by 
prominent  citizens,  as  invited  guests.  I  think  this 
company  was  the  last  to  dispense  with  liquors  on  such 
occasions.  At  one  which,  as  chief  engineer,  I 
attended,  the  toast-master,  a  member  strongly  opposed 
to  my  views  upon  temperance,  offered  a  toast  to  be 
drunk  in  cold  Tvater,  "for  want,"  as  he  said,  "of  any- 
thing more  appropriate  and  acceptable  to  him  who  is 
to  respond  to  it."  Holding  his  glass  of  water  aloft, 
and  attracting  attention  not  more  by  his  stentorian 
voice  than  by  his  towering  figure  (he  was  two  or  three 
inches  over  six  feet  in  height)  he  turned  to  me  and 
said :  ' '  Mr.  Chief,  I  ask  you  to  respond  to  this  toast : 
'Brandy  and  water  —  water  for  the  fire,  and  brandy 
for  firemen.'  "  Naturally  there  were  loud  shouts,  and 
amid  the  vociferous  cheering,  largely  ironical,  a  small 
minority,  I  dare  say,  sympathizing  with  my  views,  I 
rose  to  respond.  I  tried  to  keep  the  company  in  good- 
nature that  it  might  listen,  as  it  did  with  respect, 
while  I  improved  the  opportunity  to  enable  me 
naturally  to  close  with  another  toast  as  follows: 
"Brandy  and  water, —  water  extinguishes  fire,  and 
brandy  extinguishes  firemen. " 

As  intimated,  the  department  included  many  whose 
positions,  business  and  social,  enabled  them  to  exert 
considerable  influence.  They  generally  had  confi- 
dence in  my  ability   as  chief,    and  many  of    them. 


112  REMINISCENCES 

altlioiiuli  by  no  means  temperance  men,  as  the  term 
was  then  understood,  became  my  personal  friends, 
and  therefore  more  or  less  naturally  inclined  to  give 
attention  to  my  views. 

The  liquor  dealers,  and  some  who  patronized  them, 
or  perhaps  better,  those  whom  they  controlled,  were 
displeased  that  at  the  head  of  so  large  and  influential 
an  organization  should  be  one  constantly  exerting  his 
influence  against  their  trade,  and  consequently  I  Avas 
exposed  to  many  little  annoyances  in  the  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  my  position. 

One  fire  involved  a  wholesale  liquor-store,  and  I 
happened  to  be  standing  near  one  of  the  fire-engines 
when,  by  the  bursting  of  a  cask  of  liquor  or  some 
other  cause,  a  large  sheet  of  flame  of  seemingly 
various  colors  broke  out,  making  for  a  few  moments  a 
most  brilliant  and  beautiful  spectacle.  There  was  an 
involuntary  and  general  exclamation  among  the  men, 
and  I  said  to  the  captain  of  the  company  something  to 
the  eflect  that  it  was  a  magnificent  sight.  Some  one 
overheard  it  and,  perhaps  misapprehending,  perhaps 
intentionally  misrepresenting  me,  charged  me  with 
expressing  pleasure  at  the  destruction  of  the  building 
because  rum  was  sold  there.  That  was  made  the 
occasion  of  many  and  bitter  complaints. 

At  another  fire,  it  was  necessary  to  change  the  jjosi- 
tion  of  an  engine,  to  prevent  the  flames  from  crossing 
a  street  and  reaching  a  nest  of  wooden  buildings, 
which  would  threaten  a  conflagration.  To  prevent 
this  a  store  was  sacrificed,  which  was  a  liquor-shop. 
Although  every  officer  of  the  department  justified  the 
step  as  a  wise  precaution  that  saved  an  immense 
amount  of  property,  it  was  insisted  that  I  had  made 
the  change  to  permit  the  destruction  of  a  rumshop.     I 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  '  113 

do  not  wonder  so  mucli,  now,  that  some  people  really 
thouglit  so  for  a  time,  until  it  was  shown  that  the 
disposition  I  made  of  my  available  force  saved  two 
liquor-shops  that  must  otherwise  have  been  destroyed. 

My  services  for  temperance  frequently  took  me  out 
of  town,  and  if  a  fire  occurred  in  my  absence  it  was 
always  made  a  subject  for  complaint  that  I  was 
neglecting  my  duties.  Those  gentlemen  did  not  com- 
plain if  I  was  absent  from  home  to  sell  leather,  or  to 
buy  land.  That  was  my  business.  But  to  preach 
temperance  was  quite  another  thing  —  that  was  intol- 
erable; that  was  meddling  witli  matters  that  were 
none  of  my  concern;  that  was  fanaticism  which  ought 
to  be  stopped  by  my  removal  from  the  position  of  chief 
engineer.  There  were  some  people  in  Portland  who 
believed  that  some  buildings  were  set  on  fire  during 
those  absences  of  mine,  purposely  to  make  a  point 
against  me,  and  I  find  by  reference  to  my  letters 
written  home  at  the  time,  that  I  was  not  entirely  free 
from  such  an  impression. 

I  accord  such  complainants  the  credit  to  believe 
that  they  were  not  actuated  by  jealousy  as  to  my 
compensation.  I  was  allowed  one  hundred  dollars  a 
year,  generally  enough  to  pay  my  bills  for  hack  and 
horse  hire  incurred  in  getting  to  fires.  It  was  not 
paid  or  received  upon  an  agreement,  express  or 
implied,  that  all  my  time  Avas  to  he  given  to  the  city. 
Finally,  my  friends  of  the  liquor-interest  would  put 
up  with  the  matter  no  longer,  and,  basing  charges 
upon  those  and  other  grounds  to  be  mentioned,  organ- 
ized a  formidable  movement  for  my  dismissal  from  the 
position,  taking  advantage  of  a  time  when  the  city 
government  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Democrats,  while 
I  was  a  Whig. 


114  BEMINISCENCES 

Petitions  asking  for  my  removal  were  prepared  and 
posted  for  signature  at  all  the  hotels  and  liquor-sliops 
in  town.  They  were  numerously  signed.  A  day  was 
appointed  by  the  mayor  and  aldermen  for  a  hearing. 
The  instigators  of  the  movement  had  engaged  one  of 
the  ablest  lawyers  in  town,  a  man  of  great  native 
ability  and  brilliancy  as  an  orator,  but  whose  oppor- 
tunities for  usefulness  were  cut  off  by  his  untimely 
death.  I  was  charged  with  being  arbitrary  and  des- 
potic, as  being  unskilled  in  the  management  of  men, 
and  generally  incompetent  for  my  position.  A  num- 
ber of  witnesses  had  been  selected  from  among  those'in 
the  department  best  known  to  differ  from  me  in  theory 
and  practice  as  to  the  use  of  intoxicants,  it  having 
been  taken  for  granted,  without  a  preliminary  exami- 
nation, that  they  would  testify  against  me.  One  put 
upon  the  stand  was  a  jolly  good  fellow,  the  toast- 
master  formerly  referred  to,  —  who  professed  little 
sympathy  for  temperance.  He  was  connected  with  a 
most  respectable  family,  the  influence  of  which  was 
inimical  to  the  developing  reform-movement.  Be- 
cause of  this  the  liquor-interest  depended  upon  him  as 
a  valual^le  witness  for  its  purpose. 

With  that  particular  manner  assumed  by  some 
lawyers  when  they  call  an  important  witness,  with  a 
pose  and  an  adjusting  of  the  waistcoat,  a  smile  and  a 
benign  look  upon  the  audience,  and  an  air  seeming  to 
say,  ' '  Now  see  what  I  am  going  to  do, "  the  counsel 
for  the  petitioners,  after  the  preliminary  questions 
and  replies  tending  to  show  his  witness  qualified  to 

testify  as  an  expert,  said :  ' '  Now  Mr ,  state 

your  opinion  of  the  skill  and  ability  of  the  chief." 
The  reply  excited  shouts  of  laughter  because  so 
unexpected  by  the  counsel  as  to  completely  astonish 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  115 

hiin.  It  was  in  substance:  "My  opinion  is  that  lie 
knows  how  to  handle  men  as  well  as  any,  and  that  we 
have  no  better  fireman  among  us. " 

I  digress  here  to  relate  another  incident  in  which 
this  witness  surprised  some  of  his  associates.  Years 
after  the  event  recorded,  when  his  appetite  for  liquor 
had  so  far  increased  that  he  was  much  under  its 
control,  he,  with  several  others,  was  called  upon  to 
testify  in  an  early  case  under  the  Maine  Law  against 
a  notorious  liquor-dealer,  whose  regular  customers 
they  were  supposed  to  be.  The  new  law  was  regarded 
by  many  as  an  invasion  of  private  rights,  so  out- 
rageous, some  said,  that  even  reputable  men  pre- 
tended to  believe  that  perjury,  when  necessary  to 
protect  liquor-dealers,  was  proper.  Witness  after  wit- 
ness who  had  been  seen  by  officers  going  in  and  out  of 
the  store  of  the  respondent  testified  that  they  had 
never  bought,  drank,  nor  seen  any  liquors  sold,  given 
away  or  drank  there. 

Finally  our  toast-master  was  called.  He  admitted 
that  he  had  bought  and  drank  it  there,  and  had  seen 
others  do  the  same.  The  conviction  of  the  liquor- 
seller  followed.  The  violator  of  the  law  afterwards 
complained  to  this  witness  of  what  he  called  his 
treachery,  but  the  latter  replied :  "I  have  paid  you  for 
all  the  liquor  I  have  bought  in  your  shop,  and  made 
no  promise,  express  or  implied,  to  lie  a]:)out  it,  or 
perjure  myself  on  your  account.'' 

By  a  curious  coincidence,  the  lawyer  who  was  prose- 
cuting the  charges  brought  against  me  before  the 
board  of  aldermen  was  also  called  as  a  witness  in  this 
liquor  case.  He  objected  to  answering  the  questions 
asked  by  the  county  attorney  on  the  ground,  first,  as 
he  said,  that  it  was  an  invasion  of  his  personal  consti- 


116  REMINISCENCES 

tntioiial  rights ;  if  he  might  be  asked  ^Yhat  he  drank, 
he  urged,  they  might  also  ask  him  what  he  wore,  ate, 
etc.:  second,  that  he  could  not  answer  the  question 
affirmatively  without  exposing  himself  to  ridicule, 
abuse,  and  loss  of  business;  third,  that  if  he  should 
answer  affirmatively,  he  would  criminate  himself,  as 
he  regarded  it  a  misdemeanor  for  one  person  to  pro- 
cure the  violation  of  law  by  another.  The  position 
he  took  was  argued  pro  and  con  by  the  counsel  for  the 
liquor-dealer  on  the  one  side  and  the  county  attorney, 
the  late  Henry  J.  Swasey,  of  Standish,  on  the  other. 
Finally  the  judge  decided  that  the  questions  must  be 
answered. 

The  case  of  these  two  witnesses  had  nnich  to  do 
with  removing  the  obstacles  to  obtaining  testimony  in 
the  matter  of  the  prosecution  of  liquor-dealers,  which 
obtained  to  some  extent  in  the  earlier  cases  against 
them  under  the  Maine  Law. 

But  to  return  to  my  trial.  Having  utterly  failed  to 
establish  incompetence,  the  next  resort  was  to  the 
specification  charging  me  with  arbitrary  and  despotic 
manner  and  recklessness  as  to  the  safety  of  the  men 
under  my  command.  A  witness  relied  upon  to  sus- 
tain this  charge  was  one  of  the  two  pipe-men  of  one  of 
the  engine-companies.  He  had  a  personal  grievance 
against  me,  because  I  had  once  emphatically 
denounced  him  as  a  coward.  In  response  to  an 
appropriate  question,  the  witness  said  in  substance, 
referring  to  a  recent  dangerous  fire: 

"When  the  flames  broke  out  in  a  narrow  alley-way, 
setting  fire  to  the  buildings  on  each  side  of  it,  the 
chief  ordered  us  into  the  alley  with  our  stream  to  put 
the  fire  out."  "Well,  what  did  you  say?"  "I  told 
the  chief  that  it  was  too  dangerous,  and  refused  to  go 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  117 

in."  "Well,"  continued  tlie  counsel,  "what  did  lie 
yay? "     ' '  He  called  me  a  coward. " 

At  this  point  I  whispered  to  my  attorney,  who  im- 
mediately interjected  the  question:  "What  did  the 
chief  do^ "  And  before  the  opposing  counsel  could 
stop  him,  the  witness  replied:  "He  snatched  the  pipe 
from  my  hands  and  took  it  into  the  alley  himself." 

That  part  of  the  charge  collapsed. 

It  had  not  been  my  intention  to  employ  counsel 
upon  the  occasion,  but  a  member  of  the  board  of 
aldermen,  the  late  General  James  Appleton,  a  warm 
personal  friend  of  mine,  and  an  earnest  temperance 
man,  and  to  whose  invaluable  service  to  the  cause  of 
temperance  I  shall  refer  elsewhere,  urged  me  to  do  so. 
I  accordingly  retained  the  late  Hon.  Francis  O.  J. 
Smith,  to  whom  reference  has  already  been  made. 
He  was  then  at  the  zenith  of  his  power.  He  had  no 
sympathy  with  my  views  as  to  temperance,  nor  for 
that  matter  anything  else,  as  we  were  diametrically 
opposed  in  politics  and  many  other  matters. 

Mr.  Smith  created  much  amusement  among  the 
spectators  by  his  comment  upon  the  petition. 
After  the  signatures  had  been  collected  as  related 
at  the  various  bar-rooms  in  town,  the  papers  had  been 
so  pasted  as  to  make  one  long  petition.  Those  who 
prepared  it  did  not  notice,  until  Mr.  Smith  called 
their  attention  to  tliem,  the  ear-marks  unmistakably 
disclosing  the  animus  in  which  it  had  its  origin. 

Naturally,  the  landlord,  the  saloon,  or  grog-shop 
keeper,  as  the  case  might  be,  had  first  signed  the 
petition  which  had  been  left  at  his  bar.  Mr.  Smith, 
unfolding  the  paper  and  reading  the  heading,  called 
out  as  he  came  to  it  the  first  name  on  the  ])etition, 
that  of  a  prominent  liquor-dealer,  and  added :  ' '  And 


118  REMINISCENCES 

here  follow  the  names  of  all  his  customers."  Then 
looking-  down  the  list  to  where  the  first  pasting 
occurred,  and  reading  the  first  name  below,  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  it  was  that  of  a  liquor- 
dealer,  and  added  as  before,  "And  here  follow  the 
names  of  all  his  customers,"  and  so  on  through  the 
sheet. 

Nothing  came  of  this  case,  prepared  by  the  saloon- 
men  at  some  expenditure  of  time  and  money,  as  a 
flank  movement  in  aid  of  their  traffic.  It  l)roke  down 
in  a  way  most  vexatious  and  humiliating  to  them- 
selves. The  aldermen  voted  unanimously  that  no 
cause  for  removal  had  been  shown.  About  a  month 
later  I  was  re-elected  as  chief  without  opposition,  as 
was  the  case  for  several  years  thereafter. 

Some  time  after  this,  the  temperance  men  "  bolted  " 
the  regular  nominees  for  aldermen  of  the  Whig  party, 
then  dominant  in  city  affairs,  and  I  was  quietly 
dropped  from  the  position  of  chief  engineer.  It  was 
generally  supposed  that  my  position  on  temperance 
had  to  do  with  this,  but  I  never  sufficiently  interested 
myself  to  find  out. 

My  old  engine-company,  the  Deluge,  at  its  annual 
meeting,  following  almost  immediately  after  the 
appointment  of  my  successor  as  chief  engineer, 
elected  me  unanimously  its  captain,  and  appointed 
a  committee  to  urge  my  acceptance.  I  declined. 
My  service  in  the  deimrtinent  had  been  prolonged 
because  of  the  opportunity  it  gave  me  to  serve  the 
cause  in  which  I  was  interested.  My  labors  in  this 
were  at  the  time  taking  me  frequently  from  town  to 
address  meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  state,  and  it 
was  manifestly  wise  that  my  connection  with  the 
department  should  not  be  renewed. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  110 

Once  thereafter  I  rendered  service  as  a  fireman.  It 
was  while  I  was  mayor.  At  a  fire  one  evening,  I 
noticed  one  of  the  pipe-men  so  intoxicated  as  not  to  be 
safely  trusted  on  a  ladder.  No  officer  of  the  depart- 
ment being  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  I  ordered  a 
policeman  to  take  the  man  to  the  "watch-house," 
while  I  took  his  place  on  the  pipe.  Tlie  captain  of 
the  company,  when  he  ordered  the  pijje  from  the  roof, 
was  surprised  to  find  the  mayor  of  the  city  executing 
his  order. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


MY   OBSERVATIONS,    VIEWS,    AFFILIATIONS    AND   EXPERIENCE 
WITH     REFERENCE     TO     NATIONAL     POLITICS.        MY 
NOMINATION     BY     THE     NATIONAL     PROHI- 
BITION    PARTY     FOR     PRESIDENT. 


My  connection  with  politics,  either  local  or  na- 
tional, has  been  no  more  than  that  of  any  ordinarily 
informed,  active  citizen,  who  has  deemed  it  proper 
and  found  it  agreeable  to  watch  events  as  they  pass, 
and  to  i)erform  his  apparent  duty  relative  thereto.  I 
have  never  held  high  official  civil  position,  nor  have 
I  been  an  aspirant  therefor.  My  opinions  npon  polit- 
ical questions,  whether  local  or  general,  have  been 
tenaciously  held,  and  often  positively,  if  not  aggres- 
sively, exi)ressed. 

The  schools  in  which  I  took  my  first  lesson  as  to 
public  questions,  the  temperance-reform  and  the  anti- 
slavery  agitation,  were  not  calculated  to  develop  a 
" party"  man.  Students  there  made  better  fighters  in 
the  ranks  of  minorities,  opposing  established  wrongs 
and  combating  old  customs  and  habits,  than  popular 
favorites  and  available  candidates  for  ])lace  and 
honor.  But  Avliile  never  a  party  man  in  the  poli- 
tician's understanding  of  the  term,  I  appreciated  the 


REMINISCENCES    OF    NEAL    DOW.  121 

importance  of  organization,  and  as  far  as  consistent 
sought  to  give  effect  to  my  political  views  in  co-oper- 
ating with  parties. 

Though  I  have  had  no  direct  personal  connection 
with  national  politics  worth  noting,  few  have  had  my 
opportunity  to  take  even  a  general  interest  for  so 
many  years  in  iniblic  questions  of  a  national  charac- 
ter, or  to  have  seen  so  long  a  procession  pass  on  and 
off  the  stage  of  American  politics.  We  take  little 
note  of  time  in  its  flight,  and  when  one  at  my  age 
looks  back  he  may  indeed  be  startled  by  the  long  line 
of  mile-posts  he  has  passed,  each  in  a  time  well-nigh 
forgotten. 

Eleven  of  the  twenty-three'"  presidents  of  the 
United  States  were  born  during  my  lifetime,  while  of 
them  all  Washington  alone  did  not  live  within  my 
day,  and  the  venom  of  faction  did  not  lose  its  poison 
for  his  high  name  and  sacred  fame  until  years  after 
my  birth.  When  I  had  reached  an  age  to  be  playing 
vv^ith  urchins  on  the  street,  boys  got  into  quarrels 
over  him,  as  little  ' '  Jacobin  "  scamps  would  hurl  the 
charge  into  the  teeth  of  their  "Federalist "  fellows,  of 
whom  I  was  one,  that  ' '  Washington  was  a  coward  and 
hid  behind  a  tree,  "  thus  airing  the  spiteful  calumnies 
against  the  ' '  Father  of  his  Country  "  learned  through 
the  talk  of  their  elders,  at  family  fireside  and  board. 

Only  the  presidential  terms  of  Washington,  that  of 
the  elder  Adams,  and  the  first  of  Jefferson  had  been 
terminated  before  my  birth,  and  I  think  that,  with 
the  exception  of  Washington,  all  who  occuj^ied  impor- 
tant positions  in  either  administration  were  living  at 
that  time.  Of  age  when  Adams  and  Jefferson  departed 
together  from  this  life,  I  had  become,  through  my 

*Written  during  Benjamin  Harrison's  term. 


122  KEMINISCENCES 

reading  and  the  fresli  and  reliable  traditions  of  the 
day,  almost  as  familiar  with  the  leading  events  of 
their  times  as  if  my  life  had  been  contemporaneous 
with  theirs,  and  I  was  old  enough  to  know  something 
of  current  politics  during  Monroe's  incumbency  of  the 
presidency. 

I  heard  Webster's  oration  at  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  in  1825, 
before  he  had  reached  the  height  of  his  political 
prominence.  In  1830,  I  happened,  in  passing  through 
Salem,  to  visit  the  court-house,  in  which  the  famous 
"White  murder  trial"  was  in  progress,  and  then 
heard  him  speak  a  few  moments,  the  incident  being  of 
sufficient  importance  for  me  to  note  the  fact  in  a  letter 
to  my  wife.  When  he  was  at  the  zenith  of  his  fame,  I 
expected  to  hear  his  oration  at  the  completion  of 
Bunker  Hill  Monument,  but  the  excursion  from  Port- 
land to  Boston  was  delayed  on  the  way.  Again  I  was 
in  Washington  on  the  occasion  of  his  famous  seventh 
of  March  speech,  which  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 
winding-sheet  of  his  political  career. 

At  that  time  Hannibal  Hamlin  was  a  senator  from 
Maine,  and  was  particularly  i)olite,  aiding  in  many 
ways  to  make  my  visit  to  the  capital  agreeal^le.  To 
the  best  of  my  recollection  the  only  member  of  the 
senate  besides  Mr.  Hamlin  and  his  colleague.  Senator 
Bradbury,  from  Maine,  whom  I  had  met,  was  John  P. 
Hale,  of  New  Hampshire.  His  acquaintance  I  had 
made  a  year  or  two  before  at  a  meeting  of  the 
American  Temperance  Union  in  New  York,  where  he 
was  one  of  the  speakers. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Hamlin  and  Mr.  Brad- 
bury, I  was  introduced  to  a  number  of  senators  and 
representatives,  and  I  am  more  gratified  now,  I  think, 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  123 

than  I  was*  then,  that  I  thu.s  had  an  opportunity  to 
speak  with  men  at  that  time  so  prominent,  but  who 
have  long  been  dead.  Besides  Mr.  Webster,  Henry 
Clay  and  John  C.  Calhoun  were  there.  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  with  Mr.  Hale,  was  of  that  class  so  hated  by 
politicians,  almost  as  much  at  the  North  as  in  the 
South  —  Free-Soilers  —  practically  ostracized  by  many 
senators.  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  found 
himself  but  a  little  more  pleasantly  situated  in  that 
particular.  Stephen  A.  Douglass,  then  comparatively 
unknown,  was  in  the  senate.  Senator  Butler,  of 
South  Carolina,  a  few  years  after  became  prominent 
through  a  historical  speech  of  Charles  Sumner,  who 
had  not  entered  the  senate  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 
Senator  King,  of  Alabama,  two  years  later,  was 
elected  vice-president,  dying  in  a  little  more  than  a 
month  after  his  inauguration. 

The  speaker  of  the  house  was  Howell  Cobb,  who, 
with  Alexander  H.  Stevens  and  Robert  Toombs,  made 
a  long-noted  trio  of  Georgia  statesmen.  My  old 
schoolmate,  James  Brooks,  was  in  the  house,  from 
New  York,  and  he,  with  Horace  Mann,  of  Massachu- 
setts, were  the  only  members  of  that  body,  besides  the 
delegation  from  my  own  state,  whom  I  had  ever  met 
before.  Andrew  Johnson,  afterwards  so  famous,  was 
then  a  representative  from  Tennessee,  while  that  state 
was  also  represented  by  Isham  G.  Harris,  who  at  the 
time  of  this ,  writing  represents  it  in  the  senate,  of 
which  body  he  is  president  pro  tern. 

Upon  my  introduction  to  Daniel  Webster  on  this 
occasion,  I  related  to  him  a  story  told  me  years  before 
by  ex-Senator  John  Holmes,  of  Maine.  Mr.  Holmes 
was  a  senator  at  the  time  of  the  famous  Webster  and 
Hayne    debate,    and    on    the    evening    before    Mr. 


124  REMINISCENCES 

Webster's  great  reply  to  the  South  Carolinian  called 
on  the  Massachusetts  senator  at  his  lodgings.  He 
found  Mr.  Webster  in  a  dimly-lighted  room,  leaning 
back  in  an  easy-chair,  his  feet  resting  in  another. 
And  in  this  position,  without  book,  paper  or  pen,  he 
was  preparing  for  his  masterly  effort  of  the  next  day. 
The  reminiscence  seemed  to  please  Mr.  Webster. 

William  Pitt  Fessenden  and  Hannibal  Hamlin,  con- 
temporaries of  my  youth  and  middle  age,  lived  and 
closed  their  useful,  honorable  lives  within  my  day. 
I  was  past  the  middle  of  even  a  long  life  when  James 
G.  Blaine,  a  young  man  unknown  to  fame,  came 
to  Portland  to  become  a  citizen  of  Maine,  while 
Thomas  B.  Eeecl  and  Eugene  Hale  were  lads  at  school, 
and  William  P.  Frye  just  out  of  college.  It  is  hardly 
an  exaggeration,  therefore,  for  me  to  say  that  three 
generations  of  American  statesmen  and  political  lead- 
ers have  come,  have  performed  their  ])arts,  and  passed 
on,  while  I  have  l)een  an  ol^server  of  the  history  which 
they  were  making. 

Similarly,  of  course,  almost  all  the  exciting  ques- 
tions in  American  politics  have  arisen,  been  discussed, 
and  disposed  of  during  my  day,  and  as  to  most  of 
them  I  have  had  a  more  or  less  intelligent  interest 
while  they  were  vital,  current  issues.  Tlie  ' '  embar- 
go," because  of  the  ruin  it  precipitated  upon  a  most 
important  interest  of  Portland,  was  still  a  topic  for 
table-talk  and  corner-store  discussion  after  I  was  old 
enough  to  understand  something  al:)out  it,  Avhile  for 
years  after  the  Hartford  Convention  had  passed  into 
history  its  actions  and  intents,  real  or  imaginary, 
disclosed  or  concealed,  furnished  ammunition  for 
attacks  upon  the  Federalists  and  their  political  lega- 
tees, the  Whigs. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  125 

I  was  fairly  familiar  with  the  events  and  discus- 
sions pertaining  to  the  Missouri  Compromise,  incited 
as  I  was  to  give  more  than  the  attention  that  a  boy  of 
sixteen  would  ordinarily  pay  to  the  subject  because 
of  the  local  interest  in  the  question  of  statehood 
for  Maine,  which  was  connected  with  it,  and  from 
my  inherited  antislavery  convictions,  strengthened 
through  the  marked  interest  of  my  father  in  the  sub- 
ject. 

I  have  heard  some  dead  and  forgotten  issues  dis- 
cussed, and  perhaps  have  presented  some  of  them 
myself,  in  a  way  to  leave  the  impression  that  the  fate 
of  the  nation,  with  all  the  hopes  and  possibilities  for 
man  wrapped  up  in  it,  depended  upon  the  outcome  of 
the  particular  contest  at  that  time  pending.  But  I 
have  lived  to  see  the  country  guided  through  them  all 
by  that  divine  care  which  presided  at  its  birth,  and 
until,  despite  all  its  trials  and  mistakes,  it  is  richer, 
greater,  grander  than  ever  before. 

I  could  not  well  avoid  becoming  interested  in  public 
matters  at  an  early  age.  My  father,  though  living  a 
(luiet,  unol)trusive  life,  was  by  no  means  indifferent 
to  matters  of  general  concern,  and  was  in  the  habit  of 
reading,  thinking  and  talking  about  public  affairs, 
and,  as  soon  as  I  was  old  enough,  was  accustomed  to 
talk  to  me  upon  those  subjects,  and  before  that  I  took 
l)leasure  in  listening  to  the  conversation  between  my 
father  and  mother,  or  that  of  the  occasional  visitors 
at  our  house,  about  public  men  and  measures. 

As  I  have  remarked,  my  father  was  a  Federalist. 
Of  course  he  thought  highly  of  Washington,  wliose 
first  election  as  president  was  almost  coincident  with 
my  father's  attainment  of  his  majority.  He  had  great 
confidence  in  John  Adams,  and  a  strong  admiration 


126  REMINISCENCES 

for  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  my  horror  of  dueling, 
wliicli  kept  me  later  from  voting  for  Henry  Clay, 
altlioiigli  otherwise  in  sympathy  Avith  that  "great 
commoner,"  had  its  origin  in  what,  as  a  boy,  I  had 
heard  my  father  say  of  the  great  loss  the  country  had 
sustained  in  the  duel  in  which  Hamilton  lost  his  life. 

My  father  had  a  collection  of  the  papers  written  by 
Hamilton  arid  others  for  the  Federalist,  and  I  read 
and  re-read  them  long  before  reaching  my  majority. 
Naturally  my  political  preferences  and  tendencies 
were  influenced  by  my  associations,  and  what  I  read 
only  tended  to  confirm  me  in  tlie  same  direction.  It 
is  no  wonder,  then,  that  I  was  an  earnest  Federalist 
before  becoming  a  voter,  but  when  I  grew  older  I 
could  not  approve  the  length  to  which  that  party 
carried  its  opposition  to  the  war  of  1812.  Because  of 
their  position  as  to  that,  the  Federalists  became 
odious  in  the  eyes  of  young,  hot-headed,  warm- 
hearted men,  and  the  name  became  one  of  reproach. 
Hence,  although  it  contained  many  of  the  wisest 
heads  and  purest  hearts  among  the  earlier  statesmen 
of  the  country,  the  Federal  party  lost  its  hold  upon 
the  people  and,  therefore,  its  power  for  usefulness. 

The  existence  of  slavery  in  the  South  liad  led  to 
conditions  in  that  section  differing  widely  from 
those  obtaining  at  the  North.  Under  the  stimu- 
lating influence  of  free  labor  one  portion  made  rapid 
growth,  while  the  mill-stone  of  the  peculiar  institu- 
tion hung  upon  the  neck  of  the  other  kept  it  almost 
inert  as  to  material  progress.  Thus,  long  before  the 
actual  issue  of  the  extension  or  perpetuation  of  slav- 
ery was  forced  to  the  front  by  the  awakening  of 
the  northern  conscience  througli  tlie  efforts  of  Lundy, 
Garrison,  Pliillips,  Lovejoy,  and  others,  the  two  sec- 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  127 

tions  were  inclined  to  take  differing  views  upon 
various  questions  wliicli  became  political  issues. 

I  remember  something  of  the  talk  at  the  time  of  the 
election  of  Monroe  in  1820.  Although  but  sixteen 
years  of  age,  I  was  already  interested  in  i)ublic  ques- 
tions, and  the  fact  that  Maine  that  year  voted  for  the 
first  time  as  a  state  probably  impressed  the  event 
more  upon  my  mind  than  would  otherwise  have  been 
the  case.  Monroe  was  not  elected  in  the  first  instance 
as  a  party  man,  and  was  re-elected  that  year  Avithout 
opposition.  Upon  his  accession  to  the  presidency 
party  animosities  began  to  subside,  party  names  to  be 
almost  forgotten,  and,  in  fact,  parties  were  broken 
up  because  the  old  subjects  of  dispute  were  settled. 

Not  old  enough  to  vote  in  1824,  I  was,  nevertheless, 
intensely  interested,  as  indeed  was  almost  everybody, 
in  that  contest.  In  that  campaign  I  studied  and 
became  a  supporter  of  the  policy  of  Protection  to 
American  Industries,  and  have  never  changed  my 
views  Avith  reference  to  it.  Largely,  as  I  believe, 
through  its  beneficent  influences,  I  have  seen  this 
country  progress  from  a  condition  of  practical  depend- 
ence upon  Europe  for  almost  everything  except  food, 
until  the  extent  and  variety  of  its  manufactures  com- 
mand the  admiration,  where  they  do  not  excite  the 
Jealousy,  of  the  world. 

The  outcome  of  that  contest,  through  the  national 
house,  favorable  to  Adams,  resulted  in  a  most  violent 
political  controversy.  The  bitterness  growing  out  of 
that  struggle,  with  the  charges  and  counter-charges  of 
bribery  and  corruption,  has  never  since  been  exceeded 
in  my  observation  of  American  politics.  Owing  as 
much  to  the  manner  as  to  the  matter  of  the  discussion 
attending   that    controversy,   men    became  intensely 


128  REMINISCENCES 

partisan  in  tlieir  feeling,  and  the  devotion  expressed 
for  tlieir  own  candidate  was  excelled  only  by  the 
apparent  hatred  with  which  they  denounced  the 
chosen  of  the  other  side.  Jackson,  the  titular  saint 
of  his  party,  was  the  great  hete  noire  of  his  opponents ; 
Adams,  regarded  by  his  supporters  as  the  "ablest, 
wisest,  purest  statesman  "  of  his  or  any  other  day,  was 
an  object  for  the  derision  of  the  other  side.  This 
feeling  increased  in  both  political  camps  during 
Adams'  administration,  and  broke  out  with  greater 
heat  in  the  next  presidential  election. 

Immediately  after  the  inauguration  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  a  regular  organization  was  established  to 
oppose  his  administration.  It  made  little  pretense  of 
concealing  the  fact  that  it  was  a  party  of  the  "outs"' 
against  the  "ins;"  indeed,  a  common  expression  at 
the  time  was  that  they  were  ' '  determined  to  put  that 
administration  down,  though  pure  as  the  angels  in 
heaven. " 

In  the  campaign  of  1828,  I  made  my  first  political 
speech,  as  in  that  election  I  cast  my  first  i)residential 
vote.  Speech  and  vote  were  both  for  Adams.  I 
remember  the  great  care  with  which  I  prei)ared  myself 
for  that  effort,  even  to  the  extent  of  committing  it  to 
memory,  reciting  it  to  myself  time  and  again  in  long 
walks  devoted  to  its  study,  and  I  remember  how 
nearly  all  my  labors  came  to  naught.  Fortunately,  it 
Avas  toward  the  close  of  my  declamation  when  I  was 
interrupted  by  one  of  the  opposition  with  an  annoying- 
question,  doubtless  incited  b\'  a  pertness  of  manner 
incident  to  my  youth.  I  was  so  disconcerted  that  I 
mentally  resolved  that  I  would  never  thereafter 
depend  upon  committed  si)eeches. 

The  defeat  of    Adams,   or   rather  the  election  of 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  12'.> 

Jackson,  I  tliouKlit  would  prove  a  great  national 
calamity.  Even  now  I  feel  disposed  to  say  that 
though  we  have  heard  much  from  that  day  to  this  of 
false  pledges  aiid  broken  promises,  it  is  ciuestionable  if 
any  administration  in  the  history  of  this  country  has 
so  disregarded  the  avowed  pledges  and  principles  upon 
which  it  sought  support  from  the  people  as  did  that  of 
Jackson.  It  went  into  power  pledged  to  retrenchment 
of  expenditures,  non-interference  of  office-holders  in 
elections,  non-appointment  of  members  of  Congress  to 
office,  and  one  term  of  office  for  the  president ;  yet  the 
national  expenditures  were  trebled;  violent  partisan- 
ship was  the  surest  passport  to  office;  more  members  of 
Congress  were  appointed  to  place  than  by  all  the  prior 
presidents,  while  Jackson  accepted  a  second  term  of 
office. 

His  administration  not  only  thus  failed  to  carry  out 
its  distinctive  pledges,  but  its  leading  measures,  such 
as  its  course  as  to  the  United  States  bank  and  the 
currency,  were  sprung  upon  the  people,  not  having 
been  alluded  to  in  the  campaign.  All  the  old  preju- 
dices against  the  Federalists  were  aroused,  and  had 
much  to  do  with  aiding  Jackson  to  secure  and  retain 
his  hold  upon  the  masses.  It  is  true,  however,  that 
during  the  day  of  his  power  many  of  the  leading- 
supporters  of  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  had  formerly 
been  among  the  warmest  Federalists,  while  A^ast  num- 
bers of  the  opponents  of  those  administrations  had 
been  firm  and  efficient  supporters  of  Jeflferson  and 
Madison. 

The  Federal  party  was  accused  of  being  in  favor  of 
a  strong  national  government,  so  strong  as  to  merge 
in  itself  the  independence  and  even  the  individuality 
of  the  several  states.     It  was  quite  easy  for  differences 


130  REMINISCENCES 

upon  that  quesstion  to  degenerate,  and  leaders  who 
were  opposed  to  magnifying  the  nation  at  the  expense 
of  the  states  found  among  their  followers  those  who 
imagined  that  the  opponents  of  Federalism  were  tend- 
ing toward  the  abolishment  of  all  law.  In  fact,  at 
one  time  there  were  out])reaks  for  that  purpose  in  New 
Hampshire  during  my  father's  younger  days,  which 
had  something  to  do,  perhaps,  with  leading  his  sym- 
pathies toward  Federalism. 

Notwithstanding  the  denunciation  by  his  supporters 
of  the  Federalists  for  seeking  a  strong  government. 
General  Jackson  did  more  during  his  administration 
to  concentrate  power  in  the  hands  of  the  executive 
than  the  old  Federal  party  was  even  charged  with 
designing  to  do.  By  the  frequent  use  of  the  veto  he 
interrupted  the  exercise  of  the  legislative  power,  and 
by  refusing  to  send  the  land-bill  back  to  Congress 
when  more  than  two-thirds  of  both  houses  were  in 
favor  of  its  passage,  he  in  fact  arrogated  to  himself 
powers  of  the  government  not  pertaining  to  his 
position. 

Despite  all  this,  later,  in  the  campaign  of  1840,  it 
was  the  policy  of  the  supporters  of  Van  Buren  to 
attempt  to  fasten  upon  their  opponents,  the  Whigs,  a 
party  name,  that  of  ' '  Federalists, "  and  to  bring  up  all 
the  old  charges  against  that  extinct  party,  that  old 
Ijrejudices  and  old  animosities  might  be  revived  to 
their  advantage.  It  was  quite  in  accordance  with 
human  experience  that  those  most  active  in  this  piece 
of  treachery  were  Federalists  when  that  party  was  in 
existence,  as  were  their  fathers  before  them. 

Referring  to  my  home  corresi)ondence  of  the  period. 
I  find  that  partisan  feeling  did  not  die  out  with  the 
declaration  of  the  result  of  tlie  election.     In  a  letter 


OF    NEAL    DOAV.  131 

to  my  wife,  from  Porti^moutli,  X.  H.,  dated  Aiisuyt  11, 
1830,  (Jacki^on  had  tlien  been  i)resident  but  little  over 
a  year)  in  referring  to  a  road  in  the  vicinity  of  Ports- 
mouth, I  wrote: 

"  It  would  not  1)C  an  uncharacteristic  thing  of  »Tackson,  and 
the  greatest  and  best  of  his  acts,  should  he  issue  his  edict, 
sweep  every  turn|)ike  gate  from  every  road  in  the  Union,  and 
haui>-  the  toll-keepers  upon  the  pivot  post,  and  I  think  the  act 
would  be  quite  in  keeping  if  he  should  add  the  jiroprictors  to 
the  list  of  the  condemned." 

Here  I  insert  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  to  me 
by  a  young  Whig  friend,  whose  acquaintance  I  had 
made  on  my  "grand  tour,"  from  New  Orleans,  under 
date  of  March  8,  1828,  as  illustrating  the  length  to 
Avhich  political  prejudices  of  the  day  would  lead 
young  men: 

"  Is  it  not  astonishing  to  see  what  an  idol  General  Jackson 
is,  with  his  face  employed  as  a  sign  for  almost  all  taverns? 
How  can  a  true  Yankee  wish  for  president  of  his  beloved 
country  a  man  who  always  resigned  his  political  offices  under 
the  candid  avowal  that  he  was  unfit  for  them,  who  even  dared 
not  keep  his  seat  in  the  senate  for  fear  that  his  incapacity  for 
a  statesman  would  be  too  much  noticed,  and  whose  fame  is 
founded  only  on  his  murderous  wars  with  poor,  enervated 
Indians  and  on  a  pretended  battle  of  New  Orleans,  which 
never  was  fought,  and  which  never  will  l)e  called  a  battle  by 
any  true  historian." 

What  we  zealous  opponents  and  friends  of  Jackson 
said  then  to  each  other  was  likely  to  be  much  less 
toned  down  than  what  we  wrote  to  our  families, 
without  idea  of  its  ever  seeing  light. 

In  this  campaign  of  1832,  though  heartily  opposed 
to  Jackson.  I  was  not  in  favor  of  Clay.  It  was 
reported  that  he  had  fought  duels,  or  ai^proved  of 
them;  he  was  also  a  pro-slavery  man,  it  was  said,  and 


132  REMINISCENCES 

for  those  reasons  I  would  not  vote  for  liim.  I  found 
refuge,  therefore,  in  the  Antiniasonic  movement, 
which  about  that  time  culminated  in  the  support  of 
a  presidential  candidate,  and  in  two  or  three  state 
elections  in  Maine  cast  a  few  votes.  Except  for  these 
special  reasons,  I  had  great  respect  for  Mr.  Clay,  and 
was  a  full  believer  in  the  American  System  of  Protec- 
tion, with  which  his  name  was  identified. 

Up  to  this  time  Maine  had  kept  company  with 
Massachusetts  in  her  national  politics  in  voting  for 
president,  but  in  the  election  of  1832,  the  daughter 
forsook  the  ways  of  the  mother,  and,  going  over 
to  the  Democrats,  voted  for  Jackson. 

Continuing  my  general  relations  with  the  now  fully 
fledged  Whig  party,  I  was  a  supporter  of  Harrison,  as 
against  Van  Buren,  in  1836.  I  took  an  active  part  in 
the  state  campaign  of  1837  for  the  Whig  candidate, 
Edward  Kent,  for  governor,  who,  much  to  the  sur- 
prise and  discomfiture  of  the  Democrats,  was  elected, 
though  as  I  remember  it,  by  a  very  narrow  margin. 
Governor  Kent  was  of  dignified  presence,  gentlemanly 
in  taste  and  deportment,  a  lawyer  of  ability,  a  man  of 
integrity,  and  a  citizen  of  high  standing  generally. 
He  was  again  elected  governor  in  1840  by  a  small 
majority,  and  his  success  in  this  latter  year  was 
hailed  throughout  the  Union  by  sanguine  Whigs, 
Avild  in  their  rejoicings  over  it,  as  the  harbinger  of 
their  triumijh  in  the  national  contest,  at  its  height 
throughout  the  country  when  the  Maine  state  elec- 
tion was  held. 

The  country  was  passing  through  a  terrible 
financial  crisis  in  1837,  largely  due  to  the  withdrawal 
of  the  government  deposits  from  the  state  banks. 
These    had    sprung    up    in    profusion    all    over    the 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  133 

country,  especially  in  the  South  and  West,  as  an 
outcome  of  the  policy  of  Jackson  relative  to  the 
United  States  bank.  They  had  inflated  the  currency, 
stimulated  speculation,  and  when  at  length  the 
United  States  deposits  were  withdrawn  from  them, 
curtailment  and  calling  of  loans  were  necessary, 
followed  by  the  suspension  of  banks,  and  wide-spread 
business  disaster.  The  fever  of  speculation  had 
caught  Maine,  and  extravagant  fortunes  on  pai^er  had 
been  made  in  her  wild  lands,  only  to  be  lost  later  with 
substantial  wealth  when  the  collapse  of  1837  came. 
This  contributed  materially  to  the  repulse  of  the 
dominant  party  in  the  state  and  to  the  election  of 
Kent. 

The  Democrats  recovered  the  state  in  1838,  prevent- 
ing the  re-election  of  Governor  Kent.  The  contest 
was  sharp,  the  Whigs  making  a  desperate  effort  to 
hold,  and  the  Democrats  to  recover,  power.  The 
latter  party  was  somewhat  disturbed  by  internal 
dissensions,  a  so-called  "conservative"  element  in  it 
giving  their  associates  little  aid  or  comfort  in  the 
campaign.  I  was  much  interested  and  somewhat 
active  in  the  contest. 

Up  to  this  time  but  one  of  the  Maine  men,  who 
within  the  past  thirty  years  have  been  so  familiar  in 
national  politics,  had  attracted  notice  outside  of  his 
own  immediate  neighborhood.  Hannibal  Hamlin, 
afterwards  vice-president  of  the  United  States,  and 
for  a  long  time  United  States  senator  from  Maine,  as 
a  Democratic  member  of  the  legislature  of  1837,  had 
been  elected  speaker  of  the  house.  Mr.  Hamlin  had 
read  law  in  Portland,  and  while  there  boarded  for  a 
time  in  the  same  house  with  my  uncle,  Jonathan  Dow, 
where  I  made  his  acquaintance.     Though  opposed  in 

10 


134  KEMIXISCENCES 

politics  and  not  thrown  much  together  in  after  life, 
we  remained  good  friends  personally  tlu-oughout  his 
long,  eminent  and  useful  career.  In  more  than  one 
of  the  crises  of  his  political  life  I  was  able  to  be  of 
service  to  him,  and  always  felt  that  in  aiding  him  I 
was  serving  the  public,  whose  faithful  servant  he  was 
for  so  long. 

The  most  prominent  man  Maine  had  thus  far  given 
to  the  Union  was  George  Evans.  He  served  in  sev- 
eral successive  Congresses  the  district  which  included 
part  of  the  territory  afterwards  so  long  represented  by 
James  G.  Blaine.  More  than  once,  I  am  confident,  he 
was  the  only  AVhig  or  anti-Democratic  representative 
in  Congress  from  the  state.  As  a  result  of  the  suc- 
cesses of  his  party  in  Maine  in  1840,  Mr.  Evans  was 
sent  to  the  United  States  senate  in  1841,  serving  one 
term.  He  was  a  man  of  ability  and  force,  and  was  at 
one  time,  I  think  in  1844,  quite  prominent  as  a  possi- 
ble Whig  candidate  for  vice-president. 

During  a  part  of  his  term  in  the  senate,  Mr.  Evans 
had  for  a  colleague,  Hannibal  Hamlin,  a  Democrat. 
Later  in  life,  Mr.  Evans  crossed  over  to  the  democ- 
racy, meeting  on  his  way  his  old  associate,  Hamlin, 
who  was  coming  over  to  the  "Republicans,  and  w^ho 
filled,  as  Lincoln's  vice-president,  the  position  Evans 
sought  as  a  AVhig,  with  Clay.  In  1847,  Maine,  having 
returned  to  the  Democratic  fold,  Mr.  Evans  was 
succeeded  by  James  AV.  Bradbury,  a  Democrat.  Mr. 
Bradbury  served  one  term,  lie  is  the  only  man,  so 
far  as  I  can  recall,  wlio  has  been  prominently  before 
the  pul^lic,  now  living  in  Maine,  my  senior  in  years. 
Two  or  three  years  ago  Mr.  Bradbury  and  I  met  at  the 
State  House  in  Augusta,  and  there,  on  the  scene  of 
the   many   stirring  events    in  which  Ave  had  partici- 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  135 

pated,  renewed  the  acquaintance  which  had  existed 
between  ns  for  so  many  years. 

The  memorable  campaign  of  1840,  terminating-  in 
the  election  of  General  Harrison,  was  as  sharp  and 
exciting  in  Maine  as  elsew^here  in  the  country.  I 
interested  myself  in  it  in  various  ways.  It  was 
generally  known  as  the  "log-cabin  and  hard-cider" 
campaign,  a  phrase  which  furnishes  a  striking  illus- 
tration of  the  influence,  shown  more  than  once  in  the 
politics  of  the  country,  of  an  ill-considered  reference 
to  an  opposing  candidate  or  party. 

General  Harrison  was  a  poor  man,  and  it  was  said 
that  his  residence  was  a  rude,  log  hut.  After  it 
became  know^n  that  he  was  to  be  the  candidate 
of  the  Whigs,  some  Democratic  paper  or  orator  said 
something  to  the  effect  that  Harrison  had  better 
continue  to  skin  coons  and  drink  hard-cider  in  his 
log-cabin  than  to  try  to  become  president  of  the 
United  States.  This  was  immediately  seized  upon  by 
the  Whigs  and  made  the  most  of  to  show  that  the 
supporters  of  Van  Bur  en,  who  was  regarded  as  some- 
what of  an  aristocrat,  had  cast  a  slur  upon  poverty. 
Thereafter  log-cabins,  hard-cider,  and  coon-skins 
served  a  great  purpose  in  arousing  prejudice  against 
Van  Buren,  who  was  made  responsible  for  the 
reflection  upon  the  humble  mode  of  General  Harri- 
son's life. 

It  is  probably  true  that  the  roistering,  rollicking 
way  in  which  the  "log-cabin  and  hard-cider"  portion 
of  that  struggle  was  conducted  by  the  younger 
element  of  the  Whig  party  had  something  to  do  with 
breaking  the  grip  of  the  Democrats  upon  the  state  of 
Maine.  But  the  untow^ard  business  conditions  of  the 
country,  felt  in  Maine  perhaps  more  seriously  than 


136  REMINISCENCES 

anywhere  else,  and  the  combined  influence  of  the 
banking  interes^t,  had  put  our  people  into  a  receptive 
mood,  and  while  the  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too" 
jollifications  were  exciting  some,  an  active  education- 
al campaign  afforded  food  for  thought  to  those  of  our 
voters  not  so  susceptible  to  mere  excitement.  I 
entered  into  the  contest  of  1840  with  great  earnest- 
ness and  enthusiasm. 

That  year  I  delivered  in  the  neighboring  town  of 
Grorham,  a  Fourth  of  July  oration  which,  as  I  remem- 
ber it,  though  of  a  non-partisan  character,  had  to  do 
with  the  political  issues  of  the  day,  and  was  designed 
to  aid  the  Whigs  without  irritating  such  Democrats 
as  might  favor  me  with  their  presence.  After  the 
oration,  a  substantial  meal  was  spread  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  Congregational  church  for  the  more 
prominent  of  those  in  attendance  from  the  surround- 
ing towns.  Among  my  auditors  on  that  occasion,  I 
have  been  informed,  was  a  lad,  not  then  out  of  his 
teens,  who  has  been  governor  of  Maine,  my  friend, 
Frederick  Eobie.  In  the  winter  of  1859,  both  being 
members  of  the  Maine  legislature,  we  were  room- 
mates at  Augusta.  Throughout  his  ])ublic  life 
Governor  Robie  has  merited  and  enjoyed  the  respect 
of  his  extensive  acquaintance  in  the  state. 

As  to  my  interest  in  the  preliminary  September 
gubernatorial  campaign,  I  was  incited  to  it  not  alone 
by  my  general  Whig  convictions  and  opposition  to 
"  Jacksonianism,"  of  which  Van  Buren  was  regarded 
as  the  executor  and  legatee,  but  probably  more 
because  Governor  Kent,  the  Whig  candidate,  when 
governor  in  18.38,  had  made  reference  in  his  inaugural 
to  the  temperance  question,  being  the  first  of  our 
executives  to  do  so.     Perhaps  to  remind  me  that  he 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  137 

had  heard  of  my  services,  (I  can  think  of  no  other 
reason,  though  we  were  well  acquainted  and  good 
friends)  Grovernor  Kent  appointed  me  on  his  staff,  and 
thereafter  I  was  called  "Colonel,"  though  as  may 
be  inferred  from  what  has  elsewhere  been  written,  I 
had  never  trained  with  the  militia. 

The  "moral"  effect  of  the  success  of  the  Maine 
Whigs  in  September  upon  the  canvass  through  the 
country  was  immense.  Four  years  before,  the  state 
had  voted  for  Van  Bur  en  by  a  majority  of  more  than 
fifty  per  cent  of  the  total  vote.  Now,  it  gave  the 
"Whig  candidate  for  governor  a  plurality,  though  less 
than  a  hundred,  in  the  largest  vote  up  to  that  time 
cast.  This  result  was  heralded  far  and  near  as 
presaging  Democratic  defeat  in  the  impending  presi- 
dential election.  Then,  if  I  remember  aright,  presi- 
dential electors  were  not  chosen  on  the  same  day  in 
all  the  states,  though  in  none  of  them  were  they 
elected  prior  to  the  Maine  gubernatorial  election  in 
September. 

The  September  election  in  1840  was  not  followed  by 
a  lull  in  political  activity,  as  is  usually  the  case.  The 
Democrats  by  no  means  conceded  that  Maine  would 
support  Harrison  in  the  following  November,  and, 
though  the  exact  vote  was  not  known  for  some  time, 
from  the  close  of  the  polls  in  September  to  the  time  of 
the  presidential  election  the  state  was  like  a  vast 
political  camp.  Meanwhile  Pennsylvania,  which  had 
voted  for  Van  Buren  in  1838,  always  a  "Jackson" 
state,  had  in  October  chosen  Harrison  electors,  and 
Ohio  in  the  same  month  had  nearly  trebled  the 
majority  given  for  Harrison  four  years  before.  Maine 
Democrats,  though  they  did  their  best,  could  not 
resist  the  rising  tide  which  gave  the  electoral  votes  of 


138  REMINISCENCES 

their  state  to  Harrison  in  an  increased  total  vote  by  a 
little  over  five  liunclreci  plurality. 

That  election  sent  to  the  national  house  a  Whig, 
William  Pitt  Fessenden,  who  was  thereafter  to  win 
national  distinction,  and  promoted  from  the  house  to 
the  senate,  as  has  already  been  noted,  another  Whig, 
George  Evans.  But  Maine  whiggery,  as  an  organiza- 
tion, did  not  profit  long  by  the  success.  What  with 
"Tylerism"  and  other  troubles  it  lost  all  the  ground 
it  had  gained,  and  Governor  Kent  was  defeated  for 
re-election  in  1841  by  the  Democratic  candidate  he 
had  beaten  in  1840,  and  in  1844,  both  in  September 
and  November,  Maine  was  reunited  by  large  plurali- 
ties to  her  old  Democratic  love. 

In  1844,  Whig  as  I  was  as  to  all  economic  and 
administrative  questions,  I  would  not  give  my  vote  to 
Clay.  Dueling,  slavery,  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
were  the  disturbing  points,  and  I  acted  with  the 
Abolitionists,  with  whose  horror  of  slavery  I  was  in 
full  sympathy.  It  was  a  forlorn  hope  in  which  the 
political  liberty  men  were  engaged,  l^ut  it  was  making 
the  way  plainer  and  smoother  for  the  path-finder  of 
the  Republicans  in  1856. 

In  1848,  I  favored  Van  Buren,  as  the  Free-Soil 
candidate  for  president,  though  I  was  among  those 
imagining  they  could  see  under  the  Free-Soil  cloak  of 
that  veteran  Jacksonite  the  intent  to  ininish  Cass,  his 
old-time  rival,  for  his  (Van  Buren's)  discomfiture  in 
the  Democratic  convention  four  years  before. 

In  1852,  I  did  what  little  I  could  in  Maine  for  the 
Whig  presidential  candidate.  General  Scott.  My 
sympathies  were  as  they  had  beevi  four  years  before, 
with  the  Free-Soil  candidate,  but  the  peculiar  situa- 
tion of  tlie  temperance  movement  in  Maine,   to  be 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  139 

more  fully  described  else^Yhere,  placed  the  friends  of 
Prohibition  under  peculiar  obligations  to  temperance 
Wliigs  who  liad  supported  at  the  polls,  notwithstand- 
ing its  possible  influence  upon  tlie  nation  at  large,  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  governor,  because  he  had 
approved  the  Maine  Law. 

In  1856,  the  Republican  party,  of  whicli  I  was  a 
charter  member,  had  been  formed,  and  I  favored  its 
candidate  for  president,  Fremont.  Maine  for  the  first 
time  since  1840,  that  year  gave  its  vote  to  other  than  a 
Democratic  candidate  for  president.  Of  some  of  the 
causes  which  led  up  to  this  great  political  change  I 
shall  write  in  another  chapter.  It  was  during  this 
campaign  that  I  first  met,  as  a  Republican,  my  friend, 
Hannibal  Hamlin.  We  addressed  an  immense  meet- 
ing from  the  same  platform.  Our  presence  there  had 
more  than  ordinary  significance,  and  the  great  ova- 
tion accorded  each  by  the  thousands  that  thronged 
the  square  was  not  altogether  personal  to  either. 

Mr.  Hamlin  had  long  been  in  public  life,  and  was 
respected  and  loved  as  few  men  haxe  been  hy  the 
people  of  any  state.  His  fidelity  to  his  convictions 
and  his  integrity  in  all  relations  of  life  were  unques- 
tioned. Early  in  June  of  this  year,  1856,  Mr.  Hamlin 
created  a  profound  sensation,  not  only  in  Maine,  but 
throughout  the  Union,  in  taking  a  course,  so  far  as  I 
am  aware,  without  a  parallel  in  the  i)olitical  history 
of  the  country.  He  formally  abandoned  the  party 
which  had  elected  him  to  the  senate,  and  cast  his 
political  fortunes  with  the  opposition,  whicli  had  but 
once,  sixteen  years  previous,  elected  a  United  States 
senator,  and  which  the  year  before  Mr.  Hamlin's 
change  lost  the  power  it  had  exercised  for  one  year  in 
Maine. 


140  EEMINISCENCES 

From  that  time  Mr.  Hamlin  Avas<  indicated  as  the 
candidate  of  the  Republicans  of  Maine  for  governor  in 
the  campaign  of  1856.  He  was  disinclined  to  accept 
the  nomination ,  but  yielded  after  much  persuasion. 
At  the  time  of  the  meeting  referred  to,  Senator 
Hamlin  had  just  been  elected  governor  by  an  immense 
majority,  to  vrhich  his  own  personal  popularity  had 
contributed  much,  and  his  presence  at  the  meeting 
reminded  the  thousands  of  Republicans  assembled  of 
their  recent  great  triumph  in  the  state.  What  my 
presence  at  the  meeting  signified  will  be  mentioned 
later. 

In  full  sympathy  with  the  Republican  party  in  1860, 
I  participated,  with  voice  and  pen,  in  the  campaign 
resulting  in  the  election  of  Lincoln.  I  accompanied 
to  the  polls  that  day  my  honored  father,  over  ninety- 
four  years  old,  as  he  went  to  deposit  what  proved  to 
be  his  last  vote.  Of  age  when  Washington  was 
elected  president  for  the  first  time,  he  had  witnessed 
the  marvelous  material  growth  and  the  even  more 
astonishing  political  changes  in  the  country  for 
nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century,  and  was  still 
interested  in  current  events. 

In  1864,  I  favored  Lincoln  as  a  matter  of  course. 
At  times  during  his  administration  iny  intense  antag- 
onism to  slavery  and  my  strong  desire  for  the  rapid 
progress  of  the  Union  arms  led  me  to  feel  some  imim- 
tience  at  what  I  was  inclined  to  regard  as  a  timid, 
hesitating  policy.  But  my  confidence  in  the  ability, 
integrity  and  jjatriotism  of  the  President  was  too 
strong  to  be  shaken  1:)y  whatever  of  misgiving  or 
doubt  I  might  hav(3  entertained  as  to  any  particular 
action  or  non-action.  More  than  this,  I  liad,  as  I 
thought,    special    iiifoniialion    as    to    a    fact    which 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  141 

demanded  the  renomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  indiw- 
pen.sable  to  the  success  of  the  cause  of  the  Union,  as  it 
was  due  to  his  own  great  qualities  and  service. 

I  had  been  two  years  in  the  army,  and  had  learned 
from  my  intercourse  with  the  South,  through  promi- 
nent Confederates  in  my  charge  as  prisoners  of  war, 
and  others  who  had  in  turn  held  me  as  such,  that  the 
re-election  of  Lincoln  would  be  a  great  discourage- 
ment to  them,  as  evidence  of  the  determination  on  the 
part  of  the  North  to  continue  the  war  to  a  successful 
issue,  and  that  after  such  re-election  the  collapse  of 
the  Confederacy  would  be  only  a  question  of  time. 

Just  prior  to  the  assembling  of  the  convention  in 
which  Lincoln  was  nominated  the  second  time,  I  had 
been  exchanged  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  was  on  my 
way  home  from  Richmond,  when  I  stopped  in  Wash- 
ington. While  on  the  floor  of  the  national  house, 
throngs  of  the  members  gathered  about  me,  and  the 
question  of  what  should  be  done  was  there,  as  in 
every  other  gathering  of  public  men  at  the  time, 
uppermost.  There  was  no  doubt  as  to  what  most  of 
those  men  believed  the  proper  course  —  the  re-nomina- 
tion of  Lincoln.  But  I  was  able  from  such  informa- 
tion as  I  had  to  reinforce  that  view  effectively,  and  to 
show  that  the  evidence  that  Lincoln  was  supported  by 
his  party  would  be  worth  for  the  Union  cause  another 
levy  of  one  hundred  thousand  men. 

From  18G4,  up  to  and  including  the  election  of 
President  Hayes  in  1870,  I  retained  my  connection 
with  the  Republican  party  and  supported  its  tickets, 
state  and  national,  rendering  from  time  to  time  such 
assistance  as  I  could  upon  the  platform  and  through 
the  public  press,  my  services  by  no  means  being  con- 
fined to  the  state  of  Maine. 


142  REMINISCENCES 

In  1880,  I  way  the  nominee  for  preBident  of  tlie 
Prohibition  party.  Prior  to  the  assembling  of  its 
national  convention  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  it  had  been 
intimated  to  me  that  there  were  those  desiring  that  I 
should  bo  selected  as  the  nominee  of  that  organization 
for  president.  Where  it  was  i)roi)er  for  me  so  to  do,  I 
expressed  a  hope  that  such  action  would  not  ]^e  taken. 
There  were  several  reasons  for  my  wish  tliat  some 
other  choice  might  be  made,  only  one  of  which  I  will 
cite: 

In  my  entire  life  my  name  had  been  used  in  connec- 
tion with  my  candidacy  for  official  i)osition,  whether 
with  or  without  expectation  of  attaining  to  such,  only 
as  it  was  supi^osed  l)y  friends  of  temperance  that  the 
cause  in  which  they  and  I  were  alike  interested  might 
thus  be  served.  In  this  instance  I  believed  that  any 
other  name  would  answer  as  well  as  mine  around 
which  to  rally  the  few  who  had  come  to  regard  i)rohi- 
bition  of  the  liquor-traffic  a  national  issue  of  para- 
mount imi)ortance,  and  I  was  inclined  to  the 
opinion  that  I  could  better  serve  the  general  cause 
if  unembarrassed  by  even  a  nominal  candidacy  for 
office.  I  was,  however,  persuaded  that  others  should 
be  permitted  to  finally  i)ass  upon  that  (juestion. 

My  name  was  presented  to  the  Cleveland  convention 
by  Hon.  James  Black,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  I  was 
unanimously  nominated.  On  the  evening  of  that  day 
I  received  over  the  signatures  of  Mr.  Black  and  of 
Rev.  A.  A.  Miner,  the  distinguished  Universalist 
clergyman  of  Boston,  a  life-long  friend  of  temperance, 
the  following  telegram: 

"  Cleveland,  O.,  June  17,  1880. 
To   General  Need   Doir  : 

The    National    Prohibition    party,    large    in    numbers    and 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  143 

earnest  in  purpose,  have  just  nominated  you  by  a  unanimous 
rising  vote,  with  cheer  upon  cheer,  and  the  doxology,  as 
their  candidate  for  president.  We  congratulate  the  cause 
which  has  thus  made  you  its  representative  standard  bearer." 

The  gentleman  nominated  by  the  convention  for 
vice-preyident  was  Prof.  A.  H.  Thompson,  of  Ohio, 
president  of  Oberlin  college,  an  earnest  friend  and 
able  advocate  of  Prohibition,  a  gentleman  of  high 
character  and  standing,  with  whom  it  was  a  pleasure 
and  satisfaction  to  me  to  be  associated. 

As  already  intimated,  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
decline  the  nomination,  and  accordingly  accepted  in 
the  following  letter: 

Hon.  Jamen  Black  and  Rev.  A.  A.  Mine)',  D.  D.  : 

Gentlemen:  Your  note  of  the  18th  June,  notifying  me 
officially  of  my  nomination  by  the  JS'ational  Prohibition  con- 
vention at  Cleveland  as  candidate  for  the  presidency,  is 
received.  I  am  very  sensible  of  the  honor  implied  in  a  spon- 
taneous and  unanimous  selection  l)y  such  an  asseml)ly,  to 
represent  their  opinions  and  purposes  as  to  the  relation  of 
the  liquor-traffic  to  the  interests  of  the  nation  and  people. 

There  is  and  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion  among  intelli- 
gent men  as  to  the  tremendous  evils  flowing  necessarily  from 
that  traffic  to  every  public  and  private  interest.  Such  men 
may  and  do  differ  as  to  the  best  methods  of  providing  a  rem- 
edy for  these  evils,  but  each  must  judge  for  himself  ui)on 
that  point  according  to  his  light. 

In  our  country  there  can  be  no  change  in  any  public  policy 
which  depends  upon  law,  unless  the  people  desiring  the 
change  shall  indicate  their  pleasure  through  the  ball()t-l)OX. 
Parties  and  their  policies  come  into  power  among  us  and  go 
out  of  power  only  through  the  ballot-box.  There  is  no  other 
w^ay  by  which  the  people  can  express  their  will  effectively. 
All  important  questions  of  pul)lic  policy  are  decided  in  that 
manner  only. 

The  question  of  deliverance  to  the  country  and  emancipa- 
tion of  the  people  from  the  infinite  evils  of  the  liquor-traffic, 
may  well  challenge  the  closest  attention  of  patriots,  philan- 
thropists, and  statesmen.     This  question  touches  the  interests 


144  REMINISCENCES 

of  nation,  state  and  people  as  no  other  does  or  can  ;  the  solu- 
tion of  it  can  never  come  in  any  other  way  than  throudi  the 
ballot-box. 

It  is  said  by  men  whose  o])iiii()ns  arc  entitled  to  the  highest 
respect,  that  the  present  is  not  a  suitable  time  for  pressing 
this  issue. 

No  man  can  be  more  sensible  than  I  am  of  the  magnitude 
and  im])ortance  of  other  questions  of  pul)lic  jMdicy  which  are 
to  be  tried  l)y  the  people  at  the  next  presidential  election  ; 
but  I  am  confident  that  none  of  these,  nor  all  of  them,  are  so 
important  as  this,  to  every  national  and  social  interest. 
"Whatever  mischiefs  may  arise  from  an  unwise  poi)ular  verdict 
upon  other  issues,  they  cannot  be  so  great  as  those  coming 
from  the  liquor-traffic.  The  former  can  continue  but  for  two 
years,  the  congressional  term,  or  at  most,  for  four  years,  the 
presidential  term,  unless  the  people  shall  so  determine  by 
their  votes ;  while  the  far  greater  evils  of  the  li(|Uor-traflic 
must  continue  indefinitely,  unless  the  people  shall  express 
their  will  against  it  emphatically  l)y  the  ballot. 

Men  who  hold  this  question  to  be  of  minor  importance, 
can  never  find  a  suitable  moment  for  making  it  a  political 
issue.  There  will  always  be  some  other  question  in  which 
they  feel  more  interest,  that  may  l)e  crowded  out  by  ])ringing 
this  question  to  the  front.  There  is  never  a  suitalile  time  for 
a  summer  rain  in  the  view  of  everybody,  however  dry  and 
l)arched  the  earth  may  be.  There  will  always  be  somebody  to 
whom  the  storm  will  l)e  injurious  or  inconvenient. 

In  the  old  antislavery  time,  the  authors  and  promoters  of 
the  antislavery  agitation  were  always  a  thorn  in  the  side  of 
political  })arties.  They  were  always  a  nuisance  and  an  exas- 
peration to  those  who  Avere  out  of  office  and  trying  to  get  in, 
and  to  those  who  were  in  office  and  striving  to  retain  their 
places ;  the  two  classes  comprising  almost  the  entire  l)ody  of 
politicians.  But  the  antislavery  men,  Ijent  on  overthrowing 
the  dreadful  system  of  human  bondage,  having  no  personal 
interest  to  ])romote,  except  such  as  might  be  involved  in  the 
general  good,  were  true  to  their  convictions  and  steadfast  in 
the  line  of  policy  which  they  believed  to  ])e  right  and  wise. 
They  encountered  and  overcame  all  possible  modes  of  op])0- 
sition  —  bitter  denunciation,  great  personal  violence,  humili- 
ating and  offensive  ostracism;  l)ut,  against  all  and  over  all, 
in  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  and  in  i)ersistent  devotion  to  the 
right,  they  won. 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  145 

There  was  never  a  time  before  the  tinal  victory,  when  the 
antislavery  movement  had  so  large  a  following  as  Prohibition 
now  has  ;  nor  was  it  so  influential,  except  in  the  great  al)ility 
and  singular  devotedness  of  those  who  were  en";a<i"ed  in  it. 
Very  few  in  number  at  first  and  uninfluential,  in  many  parts 
of  the  country  they  put  their  resolve  in  the  form  of  votes 
into  the  l)allot-box,  only  to  be  laughed  at  by  the  politicians 
and  to  1)0  stigmatized  as  fanatics  ;  ])ut  they  won  at  last.  The 
prohibition  movement  in  this  country  is  now  so  respectable 
for  its  magnitude,  and  so  influential  from  the  numbers  and 
character  of  those  engaged  in  it,  that  it  cannot  be  laughed 
down.  There  is  and  must  continue  to  be  an  'irrepressible 
conflict '  between  the  liquor-traffic  and  the  prosperity  of  the 
nation  and  the  welfare  of  the  people.  As  that  traffic  flour= 
ishes,  every  legitimate  industry  languishes  and  dies. 

The  result  of  the  recent  2:eneral  election  in  En2:]and,  marks 
very  distinctly  what  I  consider  to  be  the  best  mode  of  carry- 
ing on  the  agitation  against  the  liquor-traffic.  Since  1853  the 
Prohibitionists  of  that  country  have  been  striving  with  great 
ability  and  persistence,  to  procure  such  a  change  in  the  law  as 
W'ould  enable  the  people  of  any  locality  to  forbid  the  liquor- 
traffic,  if  they  should  choose  so  to  do.  But  very  little  good 
came  of  the  agitation  practicall}^  until  they  adopted  the 
policy  of  ignoring  party  ties  and  voting  only  for  this  one 
object.  At  the  late  election  their  adversaries  were  thoroughly 
defeated. 

I  consider  the  object  of  the  Prohibitionists  of  the  country 
to  be  of  supreme  importance  to  the  interests  of  the  nation  and 
people.  Aside  from  its  bearing  upon  the  moral  and  religious 
welfare  of  the  people,  I  consider  the  suppression  of  the  liquor- 
traffic  to  be  an  object  of  far  greater  political  importance  than 
any  other  now  claiming  the  attention  of  the  country.  My  life 
has  1)een  largely  devoted  to  the  accomplishment  of  that  pur- 
pose. Perhaps  I  may  live  to  see  my  dearest  hopes  in  relation 
to  it  realized,  at  least  within  my  own  state ;  but  however  that 
may  be,  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  I  shall  keep  that  object 
steadily  in  view. 

While  I  sincerely  wish  that  the  choice  of  a  candidate  1)y  the 
Cleveland  convention  had  fallen  on  some  other  than  myself,  I 
accept  the  nomination  willingly,  1)eing  sure   that  it  will  prove 
to  be  the  huml)le  beginning  of  a  triumphant  end. 
I  am  most  respectfulh^  yours, 

Neal  Dow. 


146  KEMINISCENCES 

While  the  nomination  was  merely  a  matter  of  form, 
the  Prohiljition  party  at  that  date  not  having  even  the 
skeleton  of  an  organization,  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
inserting  here  a  sample  extract  or  two  of  the  com- 
ments upon  it. 

The  Springfield  Republican  said : 

"There  is  one  man  at  least  in  nomination  for  the  presi- 
dency who  can  boast  a  record  of  consistency  and  perseverance, 
if  not  of  wisdom,  for  many  years  in  one  line  of  reform,  and 
that  man  is  Neal  Dow  of  Maine,  who  is  set  up  by  the  Prohibi- 
tionists. He  has  been  in  the  fight  for  a  long  lifetime.  Among 
the  chapters  of  his  career  are  two  elections  to  the  mayoralty 
of  Portland,  membership  in  the  legislature  and  service  in  the 
army  during  the  war,  where  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  l)rigadier- 
general.  He  went  out  as  colonel  of  the  thirteenth  regiment, 
an  organization  composed  of  the  flower  of  the  Maine  churches 
and  Sunday-schools,  but  which  never  had  a  chance  to  kill 
many  rebels.  Most  of  Dow's  career  as  a  soldier  was  in  the 
Gulf  department,  and  the  boys  used  to  say  that  General  Butler 
had  a  special  spite  against  him  because  he  was  a  'psalm- 
singer,'  etc.  At  all  events,  a  number  of  men  who  were  in 
Dow's  command  remember  with  exasperation  such  places  as 
Ship  Island,  at  which  they  were  left  where  there  was  all  the 
tedium  and  liability  to  disease  of  camp-life  without  the 
remotest  prospect  of  glory  on  the  field.  Dow  possesses  more 
than  the  ordinary  ability  of  public  men,  and  his  friends  say 
that  if  he  had  not  sacrificed  ambition  to  hate  of  the  liquor- 
trafiic  he  would  have  occupied  a  cons})icuous  position  in  the 
world.  Certain  it  is  that  in  his  own  state  he  has  exercised  a 
tremendous  influence,  carrying  the  people  forward  with  him 
from  one  position  to  another,  and  even  the  supporters  in  the 
Democratic  party  of  a  license  system  dare  not  formulate  their 
faith  in  a  political  platform.  Whether  Mr.  Dow  is  right  or 
not,  no  one  doubts  his  sincerity," 

The  National  Temperance  Advocate  said: 

"He  is  no  'dark  horse.'  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  he 
has  stood  forth  as  the  foremost  champion  of  Prohibition  in  the 
world.  His  sagacity,  his  wisdom,  his  ability,  and  his  enthu- 
siasm conceived  the  idea  of  Prohibition,  and  carried  out  the 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  147 

inspiration  into  a  practical  law,  which  he  has  perfected  for  a 
long  time  until  it  is  the  admiration  of  the  friends  of  law  and 
order  and  the  terror  of  all  liquor-sellers." 

An  independent  paper  published  in  Portland,  said: 

"  AVhile  some  of  us  at  times  have  questioned  his  methods, 
no  man  ever  questioned  his  sincerity  or  his  honesty,  and 
friend  and  foe  alike  unite  in  admiration  for  his  undaunted 
courasre  and  perseverance  in  the  presence  of  obstacles  and 
difficulties  which  would  long  ago  have  daunted  a  spirit  less 
resolute,  a  purpose  less  determined." 

Until  1880,  I  had  uniformly  acted  with  the  Republi- 
can party,  supporting  its  nominations  and  advocating 
its  principles  from  platform  and  through  the  press,  in 
my  own  and  other  states.  I  had,  however,  been 
dissatisfied  with  the  action  of  the  party  in  Maine  at 
times  with  reference  to  Prohibition,  and  had  become 
so  much  so  that,  with  other  temperance  men  who,  up 
to  that  time,  had  been  stalwart  Republicans,  I  refused 
to  support  its  nominee  for  governor  in  1880.  Some  of 
them  either  voted  directly  for  the  Democratic  or 
Fusion  candidate,  to  make  their  protest  more  emphat- 
ic, or  for  one  of  the  Temperance  candidates  (there 
were  two)  to  make  it  more  apparent.  More  than 
enough  votes  were  cast  for  the  two  Temperance 
candidates  to  have  elected  a  Republican  governor, 
had  they  been  given  as  in  the  past  to  that  party.  As 
it  was,  however,  the  Fusion  candidate  was  chosen. 

This  was  a  presidential  year,  be  it  remembered,  and 
the  result  of  the  September  election  gave  rise  to  some 
apprehension  among  Republicans  in  the  state,  shared 
by  thousands  throughout  the  country,  that  Maine 
might  be  carried  by  the  Democrats  in  November. 
Though  there  was  little  probability  of  this,  it  was  not 
unnatural  that  such  a  fear  should  obtain.     Maine  had 


148  REMINISCENCES 

invariably  held  in  her  presidential  elections  in  Novem- 
ber the  same  political  position  taken  in  the  previous 
September  state  election,  and  the  Fusionists,  with 
that  in  mind,  had  been  encouraged  by  the  outcome  of 
the  September  balloting  to  strenuous  efforts  to  secure 
the  electoral  vote  of  the  state  for  Hancock. 

Shortly  after  the  September  election,  I  wrote  a 
letter  to  a  friend  in  another  state,  giving  some  of  the 
reasons  for  the  Republican  discomfiture  in  Maine. 
That  letter,  with  others  of  similar  im])ort,  found  its 
way  into  print.  It  contained  an  intimation  that  but 
for  certain  acts  therein  specified  of  some  Maine 
Republican  politicians,  the  temperance  men  would 
have  voted,  as  usual,  the  Republican  ticket  in  Sep- 
tember, and  that  therefore  the  Republican  candidate 
for  governor  would  have  been  elected.  In  the  latter 
part  of  October,  I  received  by  the  hand  of  a  mutual 
friend,  the  following  letter: 

Augusta,  Me.,  25th  October,  1880. 
Mij  Dear  Mr.   Doic  : 

There  were  some  troubles  that  stood  in  the  way  of  complete 
harmony  at  the  September  election  in  the  Repu])lican  ranks. 
I  do  not  stop  now  to  discuss  those  troubles  further  than  to 
say  that  they  do  not  seem  to  attach  to  the  national  election. 
Your  own  candidacy  as  the  oldest  and  most  unwavering  friend 
of  Prohibition  can  have  no  other  effect  in  this  state,  if  an 
electoral  ticket  is  run,  than  to  increase  the  chances  for 
Hancock.  And  I  presume  that  every  Dow  man  would  prefer 
Garfield  to  Hancock.  C'ould  you  not,  either  by  a  public 
letter,  or  by  private  letters  to  your  friends,  urire  the  support 
of  the  Garfield  electoral  ticket?  I  think  a  public  letter  suc- 
cinctly stating  your  reasons  therefor  would  be  far  the  best 
method,  and  would  increase  the  respect  and  regard  enter- 
tained for  you  by  your  host  of  old  Republican  friends  in  the 

^'^^^^^  Sincerely  your  friend, 

James  G.  Blaine. 

P.  S.     If  done,  'twere  well  it  were  done  quickly. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  149 

In  a  long,  full,  and  entirely  frank  conversation 
with  Mr.  Blaine's  messenger,  I  declined  to  write 
either  a  public  letter  or  private  communications  as 
suggested,  and  took  occasion  to  show  how  entirely 
improper  such  a  course  would  be  under  all  the  circum- 
stances, even  were  I  otherwise  disposed  to  comply  with 
Mr.  Blaine's  request.  I  talked,  as  was  my  habit  when 
conversing  with  a  friend,  with  great  freedom,  and 
said  something  to  the  effect  that  it  was  undoubtedly 
true  that  the  great  body  of  the  friends  of  Prohibition 
in  Maine  would  vote  for  Garfield  electors,  as  it  had 
been  their  wont  to  act  with  the  Republican  party,  and 
I  also  remarked  that  if  it  were  true,  as  intimated  by 
Mr.  Blaine,  ' '  that  every  Dow  man  would  prefer 
Grarfield  to  Hancock "  that  preference  would  be 
expressed  by  votes  without  request,  suggestion,  or 
intimation  of  any  sort  from  me.  I  also  said  in  sub- 
stance that  the  Prohi])ition  vote  for  presidential 
electors  in  Maine  would  in  any  event  be  so  small  that 
there  was  no  occasion  for  anxiety  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Blaine.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation  I  referred 
to  my  great  respect  and  liking  for  General  Garfield, 
with  whom  I  had  enjoyed  a  personal  acquaintance, 
and  who,  on  more  than  one  occasion  when  he  had 
been  in  Maine,  had  been  so  kind  as  to  call  on  me,  as 
he  said  ' '  to  pay  his  respects, "  and  he  was  always  so 
cordial,  whole-souled,  and  hearty  as  to  lead  me  to  feel 
that  we  were  something  more  than  mere  casual 
acquaintances. 

My  conversation  with  that  gentleman,  who  was  a 
warm  personal  friend  of  mine,  as  well  as  of  Mr. 
Blaine,  was  reported,  perhaps  with  some  embellish- 
ments    and     additions,    in    two    or    three    different 

quarters.     The  outcome  was  the  publication  of  state- 

11 


150  KEMINISCENCES 

ments,  as  coming  from  me,  for  which  there  was  no 
other  foundation  than  the  conversation  related.  It 
was  bruited  all  about  the  country  that  I  had 
announced  my  intention  of  supporting  the  Republi- 
can nominee  for  president,  and  of  doing  other  things 
quite  out  of  keeping  with  the  dignity  of  a  presidential 
candidate,  even  of  one  who  had  no  expectation  of 
receiving  any  considerable  number  of  votes.  The 
result  was  a  large  num])er  of  telegrams  from  our 
friends  in  many  states  asking  questions  based  upon 
those  reports.  I  had  long  before  found  it  impractica- 
ble to  give  time  or  attention  to  misrepresentations  of 
myself  or  my  position  upon  any  subject,  but  in  this 
case  I  deemed  it  proper  to  state  over  my  own  signature 
that  I  was  then,  as  always,  true  to  Prohibition,  and 
had  said  and  done  nothing  inconsistent  with  my  posi- 
tion as  candidate  of  the  National  Prohibition  party. 

The  success  that  is  measured  by  majorities  we  did 
not  expect.  We  were  voting  for  a  principle.  Right- 
feeling  voters  doing  that  reap  a  higher  satisfaction 
than  is  to  be  obtained  by  a  nominal  triumph  secured 
by  sacrificing  convictions  and  stifling  conscience. 

By  1884,  I  had  reached  an  age  long  past  that  at 
which  most  men  interest  themselves  in  public  affairs. 
My  long-time  friend,  James  Gr.  Blaine,  was  the  Repub- 
lican candidate  for  president.  The  friends  of 
temperance  in  Maine,  in  more  than  one  exigency, 
had  received  his  effective  assistance  in  matters  con- 
nected with  Prohibition.  That  year  the  prohibitory 
constitutional  amendment  was  pending  before  the 
people  of  Maine,  submitted  by  a  legislature  controlled 
by  the  political  associates  of  Mr.  Blaine,  and  was  to 
be  supported  at  the  polls  by  thousands  of  voters 
attached  to  him,  earnestly  desiring  his  election. 


OF   XEAL    DOW.  151 

My  views  of  what  was  wise  and  expedient,  under  all 
the  circumstances,  led  me  to  devote  myself  wholly  to 
securing  as  large  a  majority  as  possible  for  the  prohib- 
itory amendment.  Some  papers  charged  that  there 
had  been  an  agreement  between  Mr.  Blaine  and 
myself,  whereby,  in  consideration  of  the  support  by 
the  Republican  organization  of  constitutional  Prohibi- 
tion, I  would  withhold  my  sympathy  from  the  national 
prohibitory  party,  which  organization  was  likely  to 
divert  votes  from  the  Kepublican  candidate  in  the 
important  state  of  New  York. 

There  was  no  truth  in  that,  and  I  took  occasion  to 
say  so.  Not  a  word  had  passed  between  Mr.  Blaine, 
or  any  other  person,  and  myself  upon  that  subject, 
and  so  far  as  I  knew  there  had  been  no  such  agree- 
ment, expressed  or  implied.  I  believed  then,  as  I 
have  since,  that  it  was  important  to  our  cause  in 
Maine  and  elsewhere,  that  the  policy  of  Prohibition 
should  be  so  intrenched  behind  a  constitutional 
provision  as  to  be  secure  from  any  unexpected 
attack  in  the  legislature. 

I  add  that  I  sincerely  desired  the  election  of  Mr. 
Blaine,  although  unable,  had  I  been  disposed,  to  lend 
active  assistance  to  his  canvass.  I  seriously  regretted 
his  defeat,  because  I  believed  that,  had  he  been 
elected,  he  would  have  given  the  country  an  adminis- 
tration which  would  have  contributed  to  its  prosper- 
ity, and  added  to  his  own  fame. 

That  was  the  last  presidential  election  in  which  I 
have  taken  more  than  a  passing  interest.  By  1888, 
my  old-time  relations  with  the  Republican  party  had 
been  completely  severed.  I  voted  that  year,  as  in 
1892,  the  national  ticket  of  the  Prohibition  party. 
Of  the  seventeen  presidential  votes  I  have  cast,  but 


152  EEMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL    DOW. 

six  liave  been  given  to  successful  candidates,  but  each 
of  those  votes  represented  my  convictions,  a  matter  of 
greater  import  to  every  voter  than  to  vote  with  the 
majority. 

Yet  the  safety  of  the  republic  will  only  be  assured 
when  a  majority  of  ballots  shall  represent  intelli- 
gence, clearly  discriminating  between  right  and 
wrong,  and  conscience  consenting  to  nothing  that  is 
evil.  Between  the  saloon  and  a  class  of  bold  political 
manipulators,  shamelessly  seeking  their  own  at  the 
public  expense,  there  is  a  natural  alliance,  offensive 
and  defensive,  against  much  demanded  by  the  common 
Aveal.  There  can  be  no  political  end  worthier  the 
serious  thought,  the  determined  and  united  action  of 
true  patriots  than  antagonism  to  that  prolific  source 
of  evil  which  serves  itself  by  destroying  those  essen- 
tials of  good  citizenship  through  which  alone  can  be 
realized  the  true  greatness  and  glory  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


MAINE.         SOME     ACCOUNT     OF     WHAT     IT     WAS     AND     WHAT 

IT   IS.  THE   CONDITION   OF   ITS   PEOPLE 

THEN   AND   NOW. 


To  properly  understand  the  origin,  rise  and  progress 
of  the  temperance  reformation  in  Maine,  some  knowl- 
edge of  conditions  prevailing  in  early  times  is  neces- 
sary. Space  is  not  afforded  for  more  than  a  cursory 
glance.  Her  territory  was  rich  in  material  resources, 
as  yet  all  undeveloped  and  mostly  undiscovered.  Her 
immense  forests  represented  untold  wealth,  while  her 
numerous  rivers  waited  only  to  be  curbed  by  dams 
and  harnessed  to  machinery  to  furnish  the  power  to 
convert  those  forests  into  lumber,  and  thereafter  to 
run  looms  and  spindles  to  supply  other  necessities  and 
comforts  of  man.  Fish  in  great  variety  and  vast 
numbers  swarmed  in  the  numerous  bays  along  her 
coasts,  while  in  her  large  streams  salmon  literally 
crowded  each  other  for  space. 

Here  I  am  reminded  of  a  story,  told  me  by  my 
father  long  before  modern  fish  fictions  were  invented. 
He  was  on  the  Kennebec  river  one  evening,  not  long 
after  he  first  came  to  Maine,  and  saw  a  man  take 
seventeen  salmon  in  less  than  an  hour.  It  used  to  be 
said  that  in  articles  of  apprenticeship  it  was  common 


154  EEMINISCEXCES 

to  stipulate  that  boys  bound  by  tliem  should  not  be 
compelled  to  partake  of  that  fish  at  more  than  a  speci- 
fied number  of  meals  in  any  one  week. 

Everybody  understands  the  demoralization  attend- 
ant upon  a  soldier's  life  in  time  of  war,  and  there  are 
some  facts  which  suggest  that  Maine  may  have  suf- 
fered to  some  extent  from  this.  Massachusetts,  of 
which  the  district  of  Maine  was  a  part,  furnished 
nearly  thirty-six  per  cent  of  all  the  regular  troops, 
and  more  than  twenty-seven  per  cent  of  all  the  militia 
engaged  upon  the  side  of  the  colonies  during  the  Kevo- 
lutionary  war.  When  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain 
was  declared,  the  district  of  Maine  was  called  upon 
for  two  thousand,  five  hundred  militia,  and  the  next 
year  a  tax  of  i>74,220  was  levied  upon  her  people. 
During  the  war  her  enrolled  militia,  numbered  over 
twenty-one  thousand  men.  It  has  been  claimed  that, 
in  proportion  to  her  population,  the  district  furnished 
more  soldiers  to  that  war  than  did  any  state.  If  this 
is  true,  it  is  evident  that  as  a  new  country,  as  it  then 
comparatively  was,  Maine  had  a  larger  proportion  of 
men  without  families  than  any  other  portion  of  the 
Union,  a  fact  affecting  other  conditions  to  which 
reference  is  elsewhere  made. 

Maine  suffered  greatly  during  that  war.  Her 
interests  were  largely  commercial,  and  her  shipping 
was  destroyed,  or  rendered  unproductive.  Her  entire 
coast  was  exposed  to  British  cruisers,  which  watched 
her  ports  to  seize  and  destroy  whatever  they  could 
conveniently  reach.  Several  places  lost  much  from 
English  troops  landed  to  fortify  harbors  for  their 
blockading  squadrons  or  to  obtain  suj^plies.  That 
portion  of  the  district  by  any  possibility  exposed  to 
attack  was  in  a  constant  state  of  alarm.     Not  only 


OF   XEAL   DOW.  155 

were  the  ordinary  occupations  of  the  people  seriously 
interrupted,  but  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  male 
population  was  for  longer  or  shorter  periods  in  camp, 
that  habits  contracted  there  came  subsequently  to 
exert  a  marked  influence  upon  the  entire  community. 

Great  as  was  its  loss  caused  directly  by  the  war,  the 
district  suffered  yet  more  from  intemperance,  which 
historical  writers,  in  no  way  specially  interested  in 
temperance  reform,  have  noted  as  excessive,  and  have 
attributed  to  the  influence  of  the  war.  In  the  absence 
of  any  concerted  movement  to  check  it,  this  vice 
increased,  fostered  by  the  trade  with  the  West  Indies, 
which  took  fish  and  lumber  from  Maine,  to  be  largely 
exchanged  for  rum. 

In  1820  Maine  was  admitted  to  the  Union,  having  at 
that  date  a  population  of  298,000.  Ten  years  later  the 
census  numbered  about  400,000,  or  an  increase  of 
nearly  33  per  cent.  By  1840  the  population  was 
500,000,  and  the  census  of  1850  placed  the  number  at 
583,000.  In  1860  it  had  further  increased  to  628,000. 
In  the  next,  or  war,  decade,  the  population  fell  off 
slightly,  being  in  1870  a  trifle  less  than  627,000.  In 
1880  the  tide  turned  again,  and  the  population  was 
648,945. 

Numbers,  however,  are  not  always  an  indication  of 
prosperity  and  happiness.  Those  who  know  what 
Maine  was  once,  as  disclosed  in  the  circumstances  of 
her  people,  and  what  she  is  now,  may  well  wonder 
that  even  the  intervening  years  have  wrought  so  great 
a  change.  Once  poorer,  perhaps,  than  any  state  in  the 
Union,  she  has  taken  rank  in  wealth  much  in  advance 
of  her  relative  position  as  to  population,  while  in  the 
general  comfort,  thrift  and  happiness  of  her  people, 
she  is  excelled  nowhere  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 


156  KEMINISCENCES 

It  was  far  otherwise  when  I  became  old  enough  to 
observe  and  to  think,  and  that  was  after  earnest  men 
in  Maine,  startled  by  the  evils  of  intemperance  in  the 
midst  of  which  our  people  lived,  had  engaged  in  more 
or  less  systematic  efforts  to  correct  them.  Those 
efforts  had  by  this  time  been  productive  of  good,  not 
so  much  by  the  actual  removal  of  existing  evils  as  in 
calling  attention  to  the  necessity  for  a  change  —  the 
sowing  of  seed  in  the  intelligences  and  consciences  of 
a  really  noble  people  —  seed  that,  because  it  fell  into 
such  good  soil,  was  soon  to  spring  up  in  a  wide-spread 
organized  movement  for  a  genuine,  permanent,  and 
marvelous  change  for  the  better. 

Few  now  living  have  personal  knowledge  of  those 
times,  and  only  such  can  appreciate  the  value  to  the 
state  of  the  movement,  which,  inaugurated  before  her 
admission  to  the  Union,  w^hile  I  was  a  boy,  was  faith- 
fully, zealously  and  unremittingly  carried  on  by 
earnest  men  and  warm-hearted  women  for  more  than 
the  lifetime  of  a  generation  before  it  reached  its 
logical  result  in  the  outlawry  of  the  liquor-traflic  as 
inconsistent  with  the  general  good,  and  as  justly 
chargeable  with  the  greater  part  of  the  evils  to 
which  our  people  were  exposed. 

Some  wonder  now  why  time  and  strength  and 
thought  and  means  should  have  been  devoted  to  a 
temperance  reformation.  Could  such  be  made  to  com- 
prehend the  situation  in  those  early  days  their  surprise 
would  cease.  When  a  conflagration  is  raging,  all  are 
interested  and  anxious  to  do  what  they  may  to  extin- 
guish it;  when  it  is  in  great  measure  under  control, 
the  efforts  of  many  are  relaxed;  when  but  slumbering 
embers  remain,  those  alone  whose  specific  duty  it  is 
give  attention  to  it. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  157 

Only  tlie  remnants  of  intemperance  in  Maine,  when 
compared  with  what  it  was,  are  now  left,  and, 
naturally,  only  those  who  know  what  the  condition 
was  then,  or  who  comprehend  the  danger  lurking  in 
what  remains,  are  drawn  to  give  the  attention  neces- 
sary to  protect  society  from  it.  They  understand 
that,  unless  watched,  like  a  flickering  fire  well-nigh 
extinguished,  it  may  at  any  time  result  in  even 
greater  damage  than  was  before  threatened. 

In  the  old  time,  to  be  drunk  frequently  was  not  to 
lose  standing,  or,  indeed,  even  to  excite  unfavorable 
comment,  and  I  remember  hearing  it  said  that  the 
men  who  had  never  been  under  the  influence  of  liquor 
were  no  more  numerous  than  those  who  had  been 
intoxicated  many  times.  That  was  probably  an  exag- 
geration. Those  alone  addicted  to  the  excessive  use 
of  liquor  were  the  subjects  of  criticism,  so  that  long 
before  a  man  deriving  a  moderate  income  from  his 
daily  labor  was  exposed  to  censure  or  reproof  he  was 
often  expending  for  drink  money  which  his  family 
could  not  do  without  save  at  the  expense  of  the 
comforts  and  necessaries  of  life.  This  constant  drain 
upon  wages  earned,  and  the  loss  of  wages  which,  but 
for  their  habits,  might  have  been  earned,  kept  large 
numbers  of  working-men  poor,  and  their  families 
scantily  clothed  and  fed.  To  this  evil  were  all  too 
frequently  added  the  greater  degradation  and  the 
more  acute  misery  due  to  confirmed  and  gross 
intemperance. 

Some  estimate  of  the  extent  of  the  traffic  and  habits 
of  that  day  may  be  formed  by  those  who  recognize 
the  intimate  connection  between  supply  and  demand, 
from  the  fact  that  when  the  population  of  Portland 
was  less  than  four  thousand,  eighty-one  places  within 


158  REMINISCENCES 

its  limits  were  licensed  to  sell  liquor.  In  1823,  the 
population  of  Portland  being  about  nine  thousand, 
there  were  over  two  hundred  licensed  places  in  the 
town,  and  no  more  attention  was  paid  to  the  restric- 
tions of  a  license-law  here  at  that  time  than  is  given 
elsewhere  now: 
At  its  annual  town-meeting  in  1823,  the  town  voted: 

"That  the  inspector  of  the  police  department  be  instructed 
to  make  complaint  to  the  proper  authority  against  all  such 
persons  as  shall  presume  to  retail  spirituous  liquors  in  this 
town  without  being  duly  licensed." 

And  it  would  appear  also  that  others  than  respect- 
able citizens  were  engaged  in  the  traffic,  for,  at  the 
same  meeting,  the  town  voted: 

*'  That  the  selectmen  be  requested  to  grant  license  in  future 
to  no  persons  as  retailers  of  spirituous  liquors  unless  they  are 
satisfactorily  recommended  for  that  purpose." 

This  was  in  conformity  with  the  law  of  the  state 
providing  that  the  licensing  board  of  towns  ' '  may 
license  as  many  persons  of  sober  life  and  conversation, 
and  suitably  qualified  for  the  employment,  as  they 
may  deem  necessary." 

Among  the  mechanics  and  laboring  men  of  that  day 
it  was  as  much  the  rule  to  quit  work  at  eleven  in  the 
forenoon  and  four  in  the  afternoon  to  drink,  as  it  is 
now  to  rest  at  noon;  and  in  Portland  "eleven  o'clock" 
was  sounded  by  the  town  bell-ringer,  to  notify  all  of 
the  hour  for  drink,  as  regularly  as  the  nine  o'clock 
bell  was  rung  in  the  evening. 

In  every  grocer's  shop  were  casks,  larger  or  smaller 
according  to  the  capital  invested,  labeled  "Rum," 
"Gin,"  "Brandy."  and  in  some  cases  with  the  names 
of  different  varieties  of  wines.      Often  in  the  larger 


OF   NEAL    DOAV.  159 

towns,  as  was  tlie  case  in  Portland,  outside  the  stores 
on  the  sidewalks  to  attract  attention  to  the  large 
business  done,  were  puncheons  and  casks  which  had 
contained  these  liquors.  Many  of  these  places  kept 
rum  punch  constantly  prepared  in  a  tub,  sometimes 
on  the  sidewalk,  just  as  lemonade  is  to  be  seen  now 
on  the  Fourth  of  July,  or  other  gala-days.  This  was 
a  favorite  beverage  with  those  who  were  apprentices 
at  drinking. 

Among  the  rich,  educated  and  refined  of  the  day, 
frequent  victims  of  intemperance  were  to  be  found,  as 
well  as  among  those  whose  temptation  and  liability  to 
excess  are  generally  regarded  as  greater.  Liquor 
found  place  on  all  occasions.  Town-meetings,  mus- 
ters, firemen's  parades,  cattle-shows,  fairs,  and,  in 
short,  every  gathering  of  the  people  of  a  public  or 
social  nature  resulted  almost  invariably  in  scenes 
which  in  these  days  would  shock  the  people  of  Maine 
into  indignation,  but  which  then  were  regarded  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Private  assemblies  were  little 
better.  Weddings,  balls,  parties,  huskings,  barn- 
raisings,  and  even  funerals,  were  dependent  upon 
intoxicants,  while  often  religious  conferences  and 
ministerial  gatherings  resulted  in  an  increase  of  the 
ordinary  consumption  of  liquors. 

Years  ago,  while  on  one  of  my  pilgrimages  through 
the  country  districts  of  Maine  to  preach  the  gospel  of 
reform,  I  was  shown  an  account  of  the  liquors  pro- 
vided for  the  dedication,  in  the  closing  years  of  the 
last  century,  of  a  meeting-house  standing  on  the  spot 
occupied  by  that  in  which  my  meeting  was  held. 
Almost  fifty  years  had  elapsed  since  that  dedication, 
but  there  were  yet  living  members  of  the  church  who 
could  remember  the  "  jolly  "  time.     They  told  me  also 


160  KEMINISCENCES 

that  in  time  the  drinking  habits  of  their  first  minister 
had  so  grown  upon  him  that,  after  many  promises  on 
his  part  to  heed  the  injunctions  of  his  church  to  drink 
less,  and  after  several  appearances  in  such  a  condition 
that  he  could  scarcely  mount  the  pulpit  stairs,  the 
church  finally  dismissed  him,  but  in  doing  this  dis- 
cord was  created  that  for  a  time  threatened  the 
dissolution  of  the  society. 

It  was  related  of  one  of  the  earlier  pastors  of  a 
Portland  church,  that,  one  day,  with  a  deacon  he  was 
making  a  round  of  calls  upon  his  parishioners,  and 
at  every  house  was  asked  and  expected  to  ' '  take 
something,"  as  was  the  common  custom  among  the 
ministers  of  the  time.  The  good  parson,  after  accept- 
ing as  many  of  those  invitations  to  drink  as  he  deemed 
prudent,  said: 

"Deacon,  this  will  never  do;  we  shall  all  be 
drunkards  together.     I  will  not  drink  any  more." 

On  one  occasion  a  number  of  men  were  injured  by 
the  collapse  of  the  frame  of  a  church  in  process  of 
erection,  in  the  town  of  Gorham,  about  ten  miles 
distant  from  Portland.  The  accident  was  due  to  the 
drunkenness  of  one  or  two  of  the  men  engaged  in  the 
work.  Teams  came  into  Portland  for  doctors  to  set 
the  broken  limbs  and  repair  other  damages.  The 
"M.  D.'s  "  were  at  some  festive  gathering,  it  was  said, 
in  such  a  condition  from  drink  as  to  be  unable  to 
respond  to  the  call,  hence  the  injured  men  remained 
without  surgical  aid  until  the  next  day,  when  some  of 
the  Portland  doctors  were  sufficiently  sober  to  attend 
to  them.  This  incident  fairly  illustrates  the  general 
habit,  and  no  one  lost  either  social,  political,  or, 
save  in  extreme  cases,  religious  standing,  by  such 
excess. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  161 

If  I  am  rightly  informed,  the  first  large  building 
erected  in  western  Maine  without  the  use  of  liquor 
was  built  by  my  long-time  friend,  the  late  Isaac  Dyer, 
of  Baldwin.  Mr.  Dyer  was  largely  interested  in 
lumbering,  and  carried  on  an  extensive  general  busi- 
ness besides.  As  to  this  particular  building,  I  under- 
stand that  Mr.  Dyer  offered  his  workmen  more  than 
the  cost  of  the  usual  liquor  ration  in  cash  if  they 
would  work  without  it.  They  consented,  and  it  was 
learned  in  that  vicinity  that  men  could  do  hard  work 
without  rum  —  doubtless  a  surprise  to  many  of  them. 
I  had  been  acquainted  with  Mr.  Dyer  before  this,  and 
have  been  told  that  he  tried  this  experiment  because 
of  some  conversation  I  had  had  with  him  upon  the 
subject,  but  I  have  no  recollection  of  talking  with  him 
about  it. 

In  my  later  young  manhood,  and  early  maturity, 
public  dinners,  controlled  by  the  leading  business 
men  of  the  town,  were  almost  invariably  supplied 
with  different  kinds  of  liquors,  and  frequently 
resulted  in  exhibitions  that  would  seriously  affect 
the  reputation  and  standing  to-day  of  persons  indulg- 
ing to  such  excess.  I  was  sometimes  a  guest  on  those 
occasions,  and  my  companionship  was  much  sought, 
a  seat  by  my  side  being  competed  for  facetiously  by  a 
number,  because,  as  I  never  drank,  he  who  sat  next 
me  could  get  my  share  of  the  liquor  served,  whatever 
it  was. 

I  have  seen  highly  respectable  gentlemen  on  such 
occasions  jump  upon  the  tables  and  dance  a  jig  to  the 
encouraging  shouts  of  those  present  in  a  condition  to 
see  and  approve  of  such  manifestations.  With  all  the 
progress  that  has  been  made,  I  fear  there  are  some 
to-day  who  would  prefer  the  ' '  good  old  times, "  when 


162  REMINISCENCES 

such  actions  would  be  regarded  by  all  present  at  such 
gatherings  as  quite  the  thing  for  the  most  respectable 
citizens. 

Some  time  before  the  date  of  which  I  am  now 
writing,  the  intemperate  condition  of  our  people  must 
have  attracted  attention,  for  an  almanac  ' '  Calculated 
for  the  Meridian  of  Portland,"  issued  in  1793,  con- 
tained a  lecture,  entitled  "Effects  of  Spirituous 
Liquors  Upon  the  Human  Body,"  delivered  by 
Benjamin  Eush,  M.  D. 

The  indebtedness  of  the  people  of  this  country  to 
that  celebrated  statesman  and  surgeon  of  the  Eev- 
olution,  who  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated. 
Important  as  were  his  services  at  the  birth-struggle 
of  his  country,  he  was  yet  more  useful  as  the  pioneer 
of  the  temperance  reformation.  A  century  ago  he 
truly  said: 

"  A  people  corrupted  with  strong  drink  cannot  long  be  a 
free  people.  The  inilers  of  such  a  community  will  soon  par- 
take of  the  vices  of  that  mass  from  which  the}^  are  selected, 
and  all  our  laws  and  governments  will  sooner  or  later  bear 
the  same  marks  of  spirituous  liquors  which  were  described 
formerly  by  human  individuals." 

There  are  thoughtful  people  now  who  trace  as 
clearly  in  the  governments  of  some  of  our  larger 
cities  the  evil  influences  of  the  liquor-saloon  as  they 
do  in  the  blurred  eyes,  blotched  faces,  feeble  bodies 
and  mental  and  moral  demoralization  of  many  of 
its  human  victims. 

Other  portions  of  that  old  almanac  indicate  that  its 
publisher  was  not  too  deeply  impressed  by  the  argu- 
ments presented  by  the  patriotic  and  distinguished 
author  of  that  address,  or,  perhaps,  having  put  the 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  •    163 

former  in  type,  he  concluded  that  it  would  be 
unpalatable  to  many  of  his  readers  and  decided  to 
give  them  something  more  to  their  liking  under  the 
head  of  "Advice  to  Tavern  Keepers."    Hear  him: 

' '  Here  I  would  remark  that  whatever  extraordinary  fare 
the  tavern-keeper  provides  for  his  guest,  he  ought  to  be  paid 
accordingly,  but  he  must  remember  that  he  should  try  to 
accommodate  all  —  some  like  rum,  some  like  strong  beer, 
some  cider,  some  wine,  etc., 

"  You  cannot,  for  example,  l)uy  a  pipe  of  Madeira  wine  of 
the  iirst  quality  —  but  you  can  keep  a  gallon  or  two  for 
several  months — and  when  gentlemen  find  a  glass  of  good 
wine  in  the  country,  the}^  are  willing  to  give  a  good  price  for 
it.  But  I  would  recommend  it  to  you  to  be  more  careful  in 
the  choice  of  your  wine.  Few  of  you  are  judges  of  wine  — 
and  when  you  purchase,  the  wine-sellers  turn  you  off  with 
any  adulterated  mixture  they  please. 

"After  a  great  number  of  experiments,  I  can  safely  de- 
clare, that  nine  times  out  often,  the  wine  I  have  called  for  in 
country  taverns  has  been  a  mixture  of  cider,  molasses,  and  a 
little  real  wine  ;  or  brandy  and  wine,  and  not  unfrequently 
with  a  strong  tincture  of  sugar  of  lead.  Such  mixtures  pass, 
in  the  country,  for  Malaga,  or  other  sweet  wine.  To  avoid 
impositions  in  purchasing  wine,  get  some  gentleman  who  has 
always  been  used  to  wine  to  choose  it  for  you,  and  keep  a 
little  of  the  best  quality  for  such  passengers  as  are  willing  to 
pay  for  it. 

"  With  respect  to  spirits,  the  same  advice  is  necessary  — 
but  of  the  quality  of  spirits  3'ou  are  better  judges,  and  there- 
fore less  liable  to  imposition." 

I  cannot  refrain  from  interpolating  here  the 
suggestion  that  the  foregoing  is  fair  evidence  that 
the  adulteration  of  liquors,  so  frequently  charged 
to  Prohibition,  antedated  that  policy  by  many  years. 

" .When  you  bring  on  liquors,  endeavor 

to  give  every  one  a  separate  glass.  If  you  have  not  enough 
in  the  house,  you  will  be  excused ;  but  gentlemen  do  not 
like  that  all  the  company  should  drink  out  of  the  same 
vessel." 


164     •  EEMINISCEKCES 

Now  follows  advice  indicating  that  tlie  '  'taverners  " 
of  the  old  time  were  quite  like  some  modern  hotel- 
keepers  who  make  the  liquor  department  of  their 
establishment  of  more  consequence  than  the  hotel 
proper. 

' '  Endeavor  to  accommodate  different  companies  with  dif- 
ferent rooms.  Nothino;  is  more  disao'reealde  than  to 
crowd  a  number  of  strangers  into  the  same  room ;  or  to 
oblige  travelers  to  sit  down  with  grog  drinkers  in  the  bar- 
room. Furnish  yourselves,  if  possible,  with  beds  enough  to 
give  every  lodger  one  to  himself.  It  is  a  monstrous,  inde- 
cent, as  well  as  unsafe,  practice,  for  persons,  perhaps  total 
strangers,  to  sleep  in  the  same  ])ed.  It  is  an  afiront  to  a 
man  to  request  it.  And  a  word  to  you  about  keeping  your 
beds  clean.  Give  every  decent  man  a  decent  bed.  Every 
one  ought  to  have  clean,  fresh  sheets ;  it  is  an  imposition  to 
ask  a  man  to  lie  on  sheets,  that  have  before  been  lain  on  by 
you  know  not  who ;  you  say  it  is  a  great  trouble  —  very  well, 
then  make  your  lodgers  pay  for  the  trouble.  Those  who 
expect  clean  beds  are  willing  to  pay  for  them." 

Unquestionably  the  tavern-keepers  of  Maine,  and 
the  grocers  as  well,  acted  upon  such  advice  so  far  as 
to  keep  in  stock  liquors  in  reasonable  variety  and  of 
sufficient  quantity.  In  regard  to  quality  the  evidence 
is  not  so  clear. 

The  advice  as  to  the  separate  glass  recalls  to  mind  a 
country  store-keeper,  who,  like  all  his  competitors  of 
the  time  to  which  I  refer,  sold  liquor.  I  knew  him 
well.  He  abandoned  the  trade  in  liquor  before  the 
enactment  of  the  Maine  Law.  He  was  a  very  respect- 
able citizen,  had  a  large  trade  and  became  for  his 
time  and  place  a  wealthy  man.  He  had  a  deformed 
hand.  In  filling  a  glass  for  his  customers  he  invari- 
ably held  it  Avith  thumb  inside,  decreasing  by  so 
much  the  capacity  of  the  glass.  One  day  one  of 
his  regular  customers  for  liquor  was  behind  in  the 


or   NEAL   DOW.  165 

settlement  of  his  score,  and  lie  refused  to  trust  him 
for  any  more  of  the  ardent. 

"Look  a  here,  Squire,"  said  the  thirsty  applicant, 
"I  have  bought  and  paid  for  that  'ere  thumb  of  yours 
often  enough  for  you  to  be  a  little  more  liberal. 
Come  now,  give  us  a  glass. " 

He  got  one.  The  practice  of  this  store-keeper  was 
not  over  nice,  perhaps,  but  the  general  tendency  of 
drinking  is  not  toward  cleanliness. 

A  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Adams,  who  was 
settled  in  Vassalboro  over  the  Congregational  church 
in  1817,  and  who,  in  1834,  left  his  charge  to  assume  an 
agency  of  the  Maine  Temperance  Society,  has  left  an 
account  of  his  observations  when  he  first  visited 
Maine. 

He  says: 

,  "In  1817,  the  common  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  as  a  bever- 
age was  universal,  and  no  one  seemed  to  regard  it  as  in  any 
manner  improper.  No  retail  merchant  thought  of  doing 
business  without  keeping  alcoholic  liquors  for  sale.  No 
movement  had  been  made  in  the  direction  of  opposing  the 
drinking  habits  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Vassalboro, 
and  for  several  years  after  I  heard  nothing  on  the  subject  of 
temperance,  and  scarcely  thought  of  it  —  certainly  not  in  the 
direction  of  total  abstinence. 

"  When  I  commenced  housekeeping  I  purchased  two  pairs 
of  decanters,  and  should  probably  have  felt  mortified  when 
visitors  called,  or  the  meeting  of  the  Ministers'  Association 
came  round,  had  they  not  been  well  supplied  with  the  usual 
variety.  I  well  recollect  that,  on  settling  a  pretty  long 
account  with  a  merchant,  he  felt  so  well  pleased  at  getting 
his  pay  that  he  requested  me  to  bring  over  my  gallon  jug 
and  he  would  fill  it  with  l^randy.  Of  course  the  thing  was 
done. 

"  The  principal  merchant  in  my  parish  was  a  strict  temper- 
ance man,  I  presume  then  a  total  abstinent,  a  great  enemy  of 
intemperance,  the  sad  effects  of  which  he  saw  in  some  of  his 
near  neighbors.     This  gentleman    preached   temperance,  but 


166  REMINISCENCES 

continued  to  sell  rum.  There  was  a  shelf  in  the  store  at 
which  tipplers  were  accustomed  to  take  their  drams.  The 
merchant's  son,  one  day,  wrote  in  large  characters  on  the  wall 
above  the  tipplers'  shelf,  '  Moderate  drinking,  the  down-hill 
road  to  intemperance.'" 

When  I  was  a  boy,  there  was  a  country  store  ahnost 
directly  opposite  my  father's  house,  kept  by  a  most 
estimable  citizen.  Liquor  was  on  tap  there,  and  on 
many  a  morning  before  the  store  was  opened  I  saw, 
sitting  on  a  rough  settle  outside  the  door,  the  well- 
known  topers  of  the  neighborhood  waiting  to  obtain 
their  morning  drams. 

That  store  was  on  the  highway  over  which  many 
country  teams  passed  before  the  days  of  railroads  and 
canals.  These  teams  came  at  all  seasons  of  the  year, 
but  in  greater  numbers  in  the  winter,  when  the  road 
through  the  White  Mountain  Notch  was  passable 
from  what  was  called  the  "Coos  country, "or  northern 
New  Hampshire  and  Vermont.  These  Coos  teams,  as 
well  as  many  from  nearer  points,  had  four,  six  and 
sometimes  eight  horses,  and  there  were  also  numerous 
ox- teams. 

Near  my  home  there  was  a  slight  bend  or  curve  in 
the  road,  and  often,  as  far  as  eye  could  reach  either 
way,  I  have  seen  the  road  filled  with  long  lines  of 
teams.  Their  loads  varied.  Coming  into  town  they 
brought  wood,  lumber,  barrels,  shooks,  masts  for  the 
shipyards,  bark,  hides,  wool,  butter,  cheese  and  all  the 
products  of  forest,  field  and  farm  for  consumption 
there  or  for  exportation  by  its  shipping.  Returning, 
they  carried  fish,  molasses  and  dry  goods  —  rum  was 
never  missing  —  and  whatever  else  our  stores  could 
furnish  that  the  country  traders  could  dispose  of  to 
the  farmers. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  167 

Almost  invariably  these  teams  would  stop  at  this 
store  —  the  teamsters  going  in  to  get  a  drink.  If  it 
happened  that  any  one  in  the  line  did  not  want  to  do 
that,  he  would  have  to  turn  out  and  go  by,  at  the  risk 
of  a  quarrel  perhaps,  or  wait  until  those  ahead  of  him 
had  quenched  their  thirst,  some  of  these  being  occa- 
sionally m  such  an  inflamed  condition  from  drink 
that  disturbances  were  by  no  means  unusual.  When 
I  was  quite  a  small  boy,  I  saw  one  teamster  fell 
another  with  a  blow  from  a  goad-stick. 

Several  years  after  this,  the  wife  of  the  owner  of 
this  store,  influenced  by  the  growing  sentiment 
against  the  trafiic,  asked  her  husband  to  abandon  it. 
He  said: 

"I  am  willing  to,  but  you  cannot  live  in  so  large  or 
comfortable  a  house  as  now  if  I  do. " 

' '  I  am  willing  to  live  in  the  poorest  house  in  town, " 
she  replied,  ' '  if  you  will  sell  no  more  rum !  " 

The  business  was  abandoned,  and  the  store,  con- 
verted into  a  house,  became  their  home  in  place  of  the 
larger  one  in  which  they  formerly  lived. 

All  over  the  state  similar  places  existed,  and  the 
effects  were  to  be  seen  in  neglected  and  badly  culti- 
vated farms,  shabby,  dilapidated  buildings,  in  tumble- 
down schoolhouses  and  other  public  buildings,  in 
leaky  roofs,  hingeless  doors  and  gates,  old  hats  and 
garments  in  windows  in  place  of  glass,  in  miserable 
houses,  and  in  shiftlessness,  idleness  and  intem- 
perance.    This  continued  long  after  my  boyhood. 

At  the  time  of  the  admission  of  Maine  to  the  Union, 
and  for  thirty  years  thereafter,  her  people  probably 
consumed  more  intoxicating  liquor  in  proportion  to 
thfiir  numbers  than  the  i)eople  of  any  other  state. 
Aside  from  the  causes  already  noticed,  this  may  be 


168  EEMINISCENCES 

attributed  in  a  measure  to  tlie  nature  of  the  employ- 
ment of  a  large  proportion  of  lier  male  population, 
whicli  separated  tlie  men  for  several  months  in  each 
year  from  their  families,  and  deprived  them  to  that 
extent  of  the  restraining,  conserving  and  elevating 
influences  of  home  life,  and  exposed  them  peculiarly 
to  temptation  to  excess  in  the  use  of  stimulants. 

The  leading  industries  in  the  state  were  lumbering- 
and  fishing.  Great  numbers  of  men  were  living  in 
log  camps  in  the  winter,  engaged  in  felling  trees, 
transporting  them  to  lakes,  ponds  or  rivers,  and,  upon 
the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  in  the  spring,  in  driving 
logs  down  the  swollen  streams  to  sawmills.  These 
were  to  be  found  on  almost  every  considerable  stream, 
and  were  kept  running  summer  and  winter,  if  the 
supply  of  water  and  logs  was  sufficient,  and  often 
were  run  at  night  as  well  as  by  day. 

The  hardships  incident  to  this  employment  cannot 
be  described,  and  to  be  appreciated  must  be  experi- 
enced. The  men  engaged  worked  in  the  winter 
laboriously  all  day  in  the  severest  weather  of  a 
rugged  climate,  when  other  occupations  were  sus- 
pended. Rest  and  shelter  at  night  were  secured  at 
the  expense  of  fresh  air  in  over-crowded  log  huts. 
Kecreation  in  the  long  evenings  was  found  in  cards,  in 
song  and  dance,  in  story  telling  and  liquor  drinking, 
often  interspersed  with  the  quarreling  and  fighting 
excited  by  intoxication. 

In  the  spring,  when  log  driving  commenced,  the 
hardships  were  varied,  l3ut  not  lessened.  As  they 
took  rafts  of  logs  down  the  river  the  men  were  much 
in  the  water,  often  up  to  their  waists,  and  not  infre- 
quently all  .under,  some  of  them  never  to  emerge  again 
alive.     None  but  iron  constitutions  could  endure  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  169 

life  of  the  lumberman.  There  were,  of  course,  some 
logging  camps  not  included  in  this  description  of  the 
vast  majority. 

In  the  coast  towns,  most  of  the  men  who  did  not 
work  at  lumbering  were  engaged  in  the  fisheries,  in 
which  industry,  during  the  season,  many  vessels  were 
employed,  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  small  hamlets 
upon  the  shore  made  a  scanty  living  by  fishing  from 
boats.  The  hardships  of  their  lives  were  scarcely  less 
severe  than  those  of  the  lumbermen,  while  the  dan- 
gers, and  perhaps  temptations,  were  greater. 

The  prevalent  opinion  that  liquor  was  a  panacea  for 
all  complaints,  a  protection  in  all  forms  of  exposure,  a 
relief  for  fatigue  and  pain,  and  for  other  discomforts 
incident  to  hard  labor  and  extremes  of  heat  and  cold, 
made  its  use  general  among  fishermen  and  lumbermen, 
and  it  was  an  important  part  of  their  daily  rations. 
The  excitement  of  drink  took  the  place  of  the  com- 
forts of  life,  and,  the  appetite  being  thus  created, 
excess  naturally  followed.  The  drinking  habits  of 
logging  camp  and  fishing  smack  were  kept  up  during 
the  off  seasons  of  work  in  town,  village  and  hamlet, 
and  the  "  stay-at-homes  "  vied  in  dissipation  with  the 
men  who  had  returned  from  work  in  the  woods  or  on 
the  sea.  The  boys  imitated  their  elders,  until  indul- 
gence in  drink  almost  everywhere  was  the  rule. 
These  habits  spread  easily  because  there  was  no 
opposing  public  opinion. 

The  common  drink  was  rum,  though  a  sort  of 
whiskey,  a  fiery  liquor,  was  produced  from  potatoes, 
in  small  distilleries  scattered  through  the  rural  dis- 
tricts. The  manufactured  lumber,  and  the  products 
of  the  fisheries,  were  exported  in  large  quantities  to 
the    West    Indies,   and    the    returns  were  rum   and 


170  EEMINISCENCES 

molasses,  the  latter  being  mostly  converted  into  New 
England  rum  at  tlie  numerous  distilleries,  of  which 
there  were  several  in  Portland  alone,  some  of  them 
large,  often  running  day  and  night.  Kum,  imported 
and  domestic,  was  consumed  in  great  quantities;  the 
earnings  of  the  men  were  wasted,  and  the  capacity  to 
earn  was,  to  a  great  extent,  impaired. 

A  prominent  citizen  of  Maine,  in  his  younger  days 
clerk  in  a  store  in  a  shipbuilding  village,  has  given 
the  following  account  of  old  times  in  the  vicinity 
where  he  lived: 

"  My  employer  built  vessels  on  a  large  scale,  and  employed 
many  men,  who  took  up  their  wages  mostly  at  the  store  in 
family  supplies  and  in  rum  for  themselves.  The  store  was 
open  on  Sunday  to  supply  customers  with  rum.  There  were 
three  other  stores  in  the  village,  in  all  of  which  liquors  were 
sold,  but  in  no  other  so  much  as  in  that  where  I  was  employed. 

"Everybody  drank  liquor,  and  rum  was  considered  almost 
as  necessary  as  flour.  There  must  have  been  sold  by  all 
the  traders  of  that  village  at  least  three  puncheons  of  West 
India  rum  each  week,  taking  no  account  of  the  water  which 
was  surreptitiously  put  in  and  sold  at  the  same  price. 

"  The  working  men  and  their  families  were  always  poor; 
the  men  on  settlement  of  their  accounts  rarely  had  any 
balance  coming  to  them  —  often  it  was  the  other  way  — -  and  it 
was  quite  common  for  a  farmer  to  be  in  arrears  on  the  annual 
settling-day,,  in  which  case  he  gave  a  note  for  the  balance, 
and  when  the  indebtedness  amounted  to  one  hundred  dollars 
or  more  my  emj)loyers  always  required  security  by  a  mort- 
gage on  the  farm.  This  was  the  practice  among  the  traders, 
with  the  result  that  a  very  large  number  of  the  farms  were 
under  mortgage,  and  the  farmers  were  becoming  poorer  exevy 
year. 

"  On  Saturday  nights  the  workmen  on  the  ships,  and  other 
village  people,  were  collected  in  the  stores  to  drink,  talk 
politics,  '  horse, '  and  upon  other  topics  of  local  and  general 
interest.  Frequently  there  were  quarrels  and  more  or  less 
fighting.  The  farmers  from  the  surrounding  country  would 
be  there  also,  unless  kept  away  by  storms,  hence  the  stores 
were   frequently    crowded    with   people,    some  in   the    noisy 


OP   NEAL    DOW.  171 

stages  of  intoxication.  We  had  in  the  village  a  justice  and 
two  lawyers.  There  was  always  a  court  on  Monday  to  settle 
the  quarrels  of  Saturday  night,  and  this  gave  full  employ- 
ment to  the  lawyers,  so  that  between  the  traders  with  their 
rum  and  the  lawyers  with  their  fees,  many  of  the  people 
rarely  saved  a  cent  of  what  they  earned." 

One  of  the  most  prominent  and  honored  citizens  of 
Portland,  recently  deceased,  a  wholesale  grocer  on  a 
large  scale,  who  had  formerly  been  engaged  in  the 
liquor-traffic,  but  who  had  abandoned  it  before  the 
days  of  Prohibition,  said  to  me: 

"I  have  something  to  tell  you  that  I  think  will  interest 
you.  Some  time  ago  I  had  occasion  for  a  general  overhaul- 
ing of  my  old  books,  and  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  more 
than  two-thirds  in  number  of  all  my  sales  were  of  liquors. 
These  were  taken  by  the  ox-teams  of  the  traders  and  carried 
in  every  direction  from  Portland,  north,  east,  west,  and  their 
course  could  be  almost  as  distinctly  marked  by  poverty, 
dilapidation  and  decay  as  the  path  of  a  conflagration  through 
a  forest." 

Go  into  any  old-time,  long-established  country  store 
in  Maine,  get  a  look  at  the  books  if  you  can,  covering 
the  period  from  1820  down  to  1835  and  1840,  and  you 
will  be  surprised  to  find,  as  I  have  repeatedly  found, 
that  the  majority  of  the  entries  are  for  liquor  in  some 
one  of  its  many  forms. 

Editor  D.  R.  Locke,  of  the  Toledo  (Ohio)  Blade^ 
famous  as  Petroleum  V.  Nasby,  came  into  Maine  to 
investigate  Prohibition  for  himself.  He  afterward 
said  in  his  paper: 

"  I  was  shown  one  set  of  l)ooks  in  a  village  near  Portland 
of  ante-Prohibition  times,  which  represented  a  business  in 
goods  of  all  sorts.  Eighty-four  per  cent  of  the  entries 
were  for  rum.  Boots  and  shoes,  dress  goods,  sheeting  and 
shirting,  hats  and  caps  and  groceries  appeared  at  rare  inter- 
vals, but  rum  was  splotched  over  every  page." 


172  KEMINISCENCES 

Hear  liim  again: 

"Every  village  had  its  rumshops,  and  those  of  any  preten- 
sions, scores  of  them.  Lawlessness  and  order-l)reaking  were 
common ;  brawls  and  fighting  were  invaria])le  on  election 
days  and  all  public  occasions,  and,  in  short,  the  state  was 
demoralized  as  a  state  wholly  given  over  to  rum  always  is. 
It  was  the  regular  thing  —  rum,  slothfulness,  poverty  and 
lawlessness. 

In  one  village  he  asked  of  the  older  residents: 
"What  was  the  condition  of  the  village  in  those 
days  ? " 

"  As  bad  as  could  be.  The  village  was  then  largely  inter- 
ested in  lumber.  We  had  several  mills  here,  the  timl>er 
coming  down  the  river.  The  village  was  filled  constantly 
with  half-drunken,  rufiianly  men,  who  laughed  at  law  and 
despised  order.  Strangers  riding  through  were  assailed  and 
compelled  to  pay  for  rum  for  their  assailants,  and  on  public 
days  it  was  a  pandemonium.  Drunkenness  was  universal. 
The  dwellings  in  the  village  were  shabby  in  the  extreme, 
for  everything  went  to  rum.  The  women  and  children  were 
insufiiciently  clothed  and  scantily  fed.  There  was  no  regular- 
ity in  labor,  and  nothing  prospered  but  the  liquor-stores. 
The  liquor-dealers  absorbed  all  the  money. 

"  The  farms  were  even  worse  than  the  village.  You  might 
ride  for  miles  without  seeing  a  painted  house,  a  sound  fence, 
or  windows  without  broken  glass  in  them.  Rags  and  old  hats 
su])plied  the  place  of  glass  in  the  window  sashes.  The  stock 
was  of  the  poorest  and  badly  kept.  Crops  were  meagre  and 
uncertain,  for  the  rum  mills  confiscated  the  time  necessary  to 
the  i)roper  working  of  the  farm.  Rum  not  only  took  nearly 
everything  the  farmers  produced,  but  so  sapped  their  energy 
and  lal>oring  power  as  to  reduce  ])roduction  to  a  very  low 
point.  With  the  farmers  it  was  rum  in  plenty,  but  for  them- 
selves, their  wives  and  children,  the  most  meagre  supplies  of 
the  necessaries  of  life  in  quantity  and  the  cheapest  and  worst 
in  quality. 

"  A  dozen  old  men  who  were  born  in  the  neighborhood 
testified  to  the  correctness  of  this  horrible  statement." 

Editor  Locke  published  much  else  tending  to  show 
the  conditions  forced  upon  the  people  of  Maine  by  the 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  173 

liquor-traffic  existing  in  the  state  prior  to  the  adoption 
of  Prohibition.  His  statements  upon  that  point  hav- 
ing been  called  in  question,  he  replied,  and,  premising 
that  he  did  not  live  in  Maine  at  the  time  referred  to, 
and  could  not,  therefore,  say  from  his  own  knowledge 
that  the  statements  made  were  true,  went  on  to  say 
that  he  had  obtained  the  information  upon  which  he 
had  based  his  statements  from  "old,  respectable  citi- 
zens, who  have  grown  gray  in  the  state,  who  made  the 
state,  and  men  whose  utterances  would  be  accepted 
anywhere  without  a  question.  •  Not  one  only  was 
interviewed  on  the  subject,  but  hundreds,  and  more 
than  hundreds.  The  testimony  was  unanimous.  It 
did  not  vary  at  all  except  in  degree  of  badness. 
Every  one  bore  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the  condi- 
tion of  the  state  was  very  bad,  that  rum  drinking  was 
universal,  and  that  its  effect  was  the  demoralization 
and  ruin  of  the  state." 

Northwest  of  Portland  are  two  large  bodies  of 
water,  Sebago  Lake  and  Long  Pond,  connected  by  a 
river  flowing  from  the  latter  to  the  former,  navigable 
for  about  thirty  miles.  This  is  the  source  of  the 
water  supply  of  Portland,  unlimited  in  quantity, 
excelled  in  purity  by  none  in  the  world.  It  is  plied 
now  by  excursion  steamers,  and  is  a  most  charming 
resort  for  pleasure  seekers,  the  air  delightful,  the 
scenery  beautiful  beyond  description. 

Sebago  Lake  in  the  old  time  was  connected  with 
tide  water  at  Portland  by  a  canal  about  seventeen 
miles  in  length.  By  this  there  was  much  freighting 
between  the  city  and  the  interior  bordering  upon 
these  waters.  Farm  products,  and  wood  and  lumber 
in  many  forms  and  in  large  quantities,  were  brought 
to  the  wharves  in  Portland,   while  supplies  for  the 


174  EEMINISCENCES 

interior  were  taken  back  by  that  cliannel.  A  friend 
of  mine  had  a  wire  factory  at  Harrison,  at  the  north- 
erly end  of  Long  Pond.  He  said  to  me  that  a  canal 
boatman,  who  was  engaged  as  a  common  carrier  from 
Portland,  told  him  that  in  the  year  before  the  enact- 
ment of  the  Maine  Liquor  Law  he  carried  from  Port- 
land to  the  towns  on  that  line,  three  hundred  barrels 
of  rum.  That  was  a  fair  sample  of  his  annual  busi- 
ness in  transporting  liquor. 

Several  years  after  this  I  was  at  a  temperance 
meeting  in  Bridgton,  a  beautiful  village  about  a  mile 
from  the  shores  of  Long  Pond,  and  repeated  that 
statement.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  a  citizen  of 
the  town  came  to  me  and  said  that  he  ran  a  boat  on 
that  canal,  making  a  round  trip  to  Portland  every 
week.  Before  the  enactment  of  the  Maine  Law  he 
had  never  made  a  return  trip  with  less  than  a 
puncheon  of  rum  and  from  five  to  ten  barrels  of  the 
same  liquor;  that  there  were  always  twelve,  and 
sometimes  more  boats  on  the  canal,  and  that  his 
boat  carried  no  more  rum  than  others. 

At  a  public  meeting  in  the  village  of  Raymond  on 
the  shores  of  Sebago  Lake,  a  prominent  citizen,  the 
late  Hon.  James  M.  Leach,  who  had  been  a  member  of 
the  constitutional  convention  of  the  state,  and  subse- 
quently of  the  state  senate,  said  to  me,  referring  to 
the  amount  of  liquor  brought  into  the  town  by  canal- 
boats  and  teams  from  Portland,  that  it  could  be 
proven  by  the  old  account  books  in  existence  in  Ray- 
mond, that  its  people  consumed  more  strong  drink  in 
every  period  of  eighteen  years  than  the  entire  valua- 
tion of  the  town. 

I  insert  here  a  clipping  from  a  letter  written  by 
Rev.  R.  B.  Howard,  formerly  a  resident  of  this  state, 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  175 

but  at  the  time  of  its  publication  a  citizen  of  New 
Jersey,  published  some  time  in  1876,  in  the  Chicago 
Advance: 

"  In  1847-'48,  I  attended  school  and  during  the  winter 
taught  in  two  districts  near  the  delightfully  situated  village  of 
Wayne,  in  Kennebec  county.  That  place  was  then  cursed, 
and  had  been  from  the  first,  with  an  old-fashioned  rumshop 
combined  with  a  country  store.  Nearly  all  the  trade  in  the 
neighborhood  where  I  first  taught  was  done  at  the  groggery, 
and  New  England  rum  '  rectified  '  with  water  and  turpentine, 
was  the  chief  article  bought  by  the  parents  of  some  of  my 
pupils.  A  poor  set  of  fellows,  half  laborers  and  two-thirds 
loafers,  hung  around  the  village,  whetting  their  appetite  for 
rum  with  crackers  and  codfish,  their  chief  articles  of  diet. 
For  twenty  years  that  drunkard  factory  turned  out  its  prod- 
ucts of  poverty,  misery  and  crime.  The  father  of  one  of 
my  scholars  had  been  in  state-prison  for  the  attempted 
murder  of  another  whom  he  had  left  in  a  stream  of  water 
for  dead.     Both  were  drunk." 

At  a  meeting  I  attended  at  what  is  now  the  beautiful 
and  prosperous  village  of  Fryeburg,  a  town  in  Oxford 
county,  named  for  Greneral  Frye,  a  Revolutionary 
officer,  and  the  grandfather  of  our  present  United 
States  Senator  Frye,  a  resident  physician,  Dr.  Bar- 
rows, known  and  honored  throughout  the  state,  said 
in  the  course  of  a  speech:  "There  are  now  in  this 
village  twenty  widows  whose  husbands  were  killed  by 
drink. "  Fryeburg  was  by  no  means  exceptional  in  the 
matter  of  intemperance,  and  may  be  considered  as 
fairly  representative  of  the  state  at  large  in  that 
particular. 

As  late  as  1840,  a  committee  appointed  at  a  temper- 
ance meeting  in  Portland  for  the  purpose  of  investi- 
gating the  subject,  which  committee  included  two 
citizens  who  were  subsequently  mayors  of  the  city, 
reported  that  there  were  five  hundred  common  drunk- 


176  EEMINISCENCES 

ards  in  a  population  of  about  twelve  thousand,  and 
that  one  thousand,  at  least,  were  addicted  to  the 
excessive  use  of  intoxicants.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  Portland  in  this  particular  differed  much 
from  the  rest  of  the  state. 

Testimony  might  be  adduced  indefinitely,  tending 
to  show  the  vast  extent  of  the  liquor-trafRc  and  the 
resulting  evils  in  Maine  before  the  enactment  of  the 
prohibitory  law.  There  are  few  now  living  acquainted 
with  Maine  in  those  days,  and  those  who  know  it  now 
and  are  familiar  with  its  abounding  evidences  of 
thrift  can  hardly  understand  what  it  was  then.  No 
person  could  fail  to  notice  the  general  poverty  of  the 
state,  and  no  thoughtful  person  could  fail  to  connect 
cause  and  effect,  and  to  see  that  much  of  this  poverty 
was  the  direct  result  of  the  general  distribution  of  the 
traffic  in  liquor. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  from  that  general  descrip- 
tion of  conditions  in  early  Maine  that  all,  or  a  major 
part,  of  her  people  were  suffering  from  their  own 
excessive  indulgence  in  intoxicants.  Such  was  by  no 
means  the  case,  but  all,  nevertheless,  were  laboring 
under  the  burdens  imposed  upon  them  by  the  liquor- 
traffic.  Just  as  an  entire  army,  though  largely  com- 
posed of  brave  men,  may  be  beaten  into  a  hopeless 
rout  if  a  few  score  in  its  line  of  battle  awaiting  a 
charge  puts  up  the  despairing  cry  of  "  Sauve  qui  peutf'' 
so  the  best  material  for  citizenship  may  find  progress 
blocked,  if,  in  addition  to  surmounting  obstacles 
itself,  it  is  obliged  to  drag  useless  lumber  with  it. 
The  chief  evil  of  the  liquor-traffic  is  that,  as  the  rain 
falls  alike  upon  the  just  and  unjust,  so  it  imposes  its 
multiform  burdens  upon  an  entire  community,  per- 
mitting nothing  in  the  wide  range  of  its  diversified 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  177 

interests  to  escape.  The  sober,  the  industrious,  the 
thrifty  citizen  bears  his  portion,  if  in  a  manner  less 
apparent  than  do  those  through  whose  indiscretions 
the  more  palpable  injury  is  wrought. 

Good  authorities  upon  such  matters  have  held  that 
it  is  a  dangerous,  generally  a  disastrous,  strain  to  put 
upon  the  courage  and  discipline  of  the  best  troops  to 
expose  them  to  a  fire  which  would  put  one  in  ten  of 
their  number  hors  du  comhat.  In  such  cases  the 
repulse  to  be  expected  would  not  be  due  alone  to  the 
direct  loss  sustained  by  the  decimation;  more  than 
that  would  be  subtracted  in  one  way  or  another  from 
the  fighting  force  of  the  unscathed  nine.  So  the  citi- 
zens of  Maine  were  exposed  to  and  suffered  from  the 
rifle-pits  and  batteries  of  a  trade,  for  years  intrenched 
in  the  fallacy,  fostered  by  the  law  which  made  them 
quasi  representatives  of  the  state,  that  they  served  a 
useful  purpose. 

True,  therefore,  as  it  is  that  in  her  early  days  Maine 
suffered  from  the  trade  to  which  at  length  the  intelli- 
gence, virtue,  conscience  and  patriotism  of  her  people 
denied  legal  foothold  within  her  borders,  that  great 
moral  awakening,  that  marvelous  political  revolution, 
that  long  stride  in  legislation  in  which  the  state  recog- 
nized its  right  and  asserted  its  determination  to  be 
freed  from  the  moral  and  material  incubus  of  the  rum 
trade,  testify  in  themselves  volumes  to  the  possession 
by  the  masses  of  her  people  of  all  those  elements 
which  must  underlie  a  prosperous  and  progressive 
nation.  Honest,  industrious,  frugal,  enterprising, 
thoughtful,  they  were  themselves  on  the  highway  to 
prosperity,  and  were  making  plain  the  paths  to  plenty 
for  all  who  should  profit  by  their  example  and  be 
guided  by  their  precepts.     When  at  length  they  found 


178  EEMINISCENCES 

their  way  onward  blocked  by  a  trade  serving  no  use- 
ful purpose  whatever,  they  devoted  themselves  to 
removing  the  enemy  obstructing  their  progress. 

Believing,  as  I  devoutly  do,  that  Maine  could  not  be 
to-day  what  she  is,  rich  in  all  that  goes  to  make  for 
the  substantial  prosperity  and  true  happiness  of  a 
virtuous  people,  but  for  the  bulwark  she  erected  in 
Prohibition  years  ago  to  protect  herself  from  the 
injury  and  demoralization  of  the  liquor-traffic,  I  yet 
recognize  with  pride  the  high  average  of  her  early 
inhabitants  in  all  excellent  qualities.  Had  the  men 
of  Maine  been  less  then  than  what  they  were,  it  would 
have  been  left  to  some  other  state,  possessing  those 
virtues  which,  happily,  they  did  not  lack,  to  have  led 
the  way,  as  did  Maine,  in  the  most  difficult,  unpopular 
and  important  moral  revolution  of  their  time. 

In  1850  not  a  savings  bank  existed  in  Maine.  By 
the  census  of  1890,  although  ranking  as  the  twenty- 
ninth  among  her  sisters  in  the  Union  in  point  of 
population,  only  five  outrank  her  in  the  number  of 
her  depositors,  and  only  six  in  the  total  amount  of 
deposits.  By  that  census,  New  Jersey,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  1,444,933,  had  117,853  depositors  in  those 
institutions,  and  Ohio,  with  3,672,310  people,  had 
73,335,  while  Maine,  with  less  than  half  the  population 
of  the  former  and  less  than  a  fifth  of  the  latter,  had 
132,192  dei)ositors.  Other  comparisons  might  be 
instituted,  all  indicating  the  general  prosperity  of  the 
state,  but  it  is  not  necessary. 

I  was  born  in  Maine,  and  have  always  made  my 
home  here.  I  have  all  that  affection  for  it  that 
ii  becomes  one  to  entertain  for  his  native  state.  I 
have,  too,  that  great  and  abiding  devotion  to  her  that 
one  must  have  who  has  tried  earnestly  to  serve  her 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  179 

best  and  highest  interests  as  he  has  been  led  to  see 
them,  and  yet  I  think  that  I  am  able  to  judge  and 
speak  impartially.  Believing  so,  I  am  glad  to  say 
that  though  I  have  traveled  far  and  wide  in  this 
country  and  in  other  lands,  nowhere  have  I  found  a 
people  giving  so  many  evidences  of  the  possession  of 
all  that  is  desirable  for  solid,  substantial,  enduring 
comfort  as  in  the  state  of  Maine. 

Do  any  say  I  am  partial  because  a  native  ?  Let  such 
come,  see,  and  judge  for  themselves.  No  observing 
person  can  travel  through  Maine  to-day  without  com- 
ing to  the  conclusion  that,  taking  it  all  in  all,  no 
other  portion  of  the  country  can  exceed  her  either  as 
a  desirable  place  for  a  permanent  home,  or  as  a 
delightful  resort  for  recreation,  health  and  pleasure. 
James  G.  Blaine,  in  the  course  of  a  speech  in  the  City 
Hall  of  Portland,  referring  to  the  prosperous  condition 
of  our  people,  turning  to  Senator  Allison,  of  Iowa, 
who  occupied  a  seat  upon  the  platform,  said:  "I  do 
not  except  even  your  great  empire  of  the  West  when  I 
say  that  Maine  will  compare  favorably  with  any  state 
in  the  Union. " 

I  will  not  undertake  here  to  say  in  what  lies  the 
secret  of  her  marked  prosperity.  Let  another  of  her 
sons,  also  to  the  manor  born,  speak  upon  this  point. 
Hon.  Frederick  Robie,  to  whom  I  have  elsewhere 
alluded,  was  governor  of  the  state  in  1883-84-85-86. 
In  one  of  his  inaugural  addresses  to  the  legislature, 
he  said: 

"  Prohibition  has  worked  immense  aclvantaaes  for  the  state 
of  ]\Iaine.  The  vast  sum  of  money  which  formerly  went  into 
the  tills  of  the  saloon-keeper  is  now  spent  for  improving 
farms,  households,  and  a  thousand  other  ways  which  benefit 
society,  and  the  entire  state  feels  the  beneficial  efl'ect." 


180  EEMINISCENCES   OF  NEAL   DOW. 

Other  causes  than  the  outlawry  of  the  liquor  shops 
have  contributed  to  the  marked  prosperity  of  Maine, 
but  there  are  thousands  of  her  business  men  who 
believe  that  that  has  been  the  chief  instrumentality 
which  has  enabled  the  state  again  and  again  to  bear 
with  less  distress  than  has  any  other  portion  of  the 
country  the  periods  of  business  depression  which  have 
accompanied  hard  times. 

The  liquor-traffic  of  the  old  time  was  a  chief  con- 
tributing cause  of  the  poor  condition  of  the  state  at 
the  lowest  point  of  its  material  prosperity.  Had  that 
trade  been  allowed  to  continue  unchecked,  who 
believes  that  Maine  would  now  be  able  to  challenge 
comparison  with  her  most  favored  sisters  i 


Rev.  Edward  Pavson,  D.  D. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


OPENING     OF    THE     TEMPERANCE     REFOEMATION     IN     MAINE. 
FIRST    TEMPERANCE    SOCIETY.         GRADUAL    DEVEL- 
OPMENT  OF   THE    WORK.        HOW   I   BECAME 
INTERESTED. 


What  has  been  said  in  the  last  chapter  fairly 
describes  the  general  condition  of  Maine  from  my 
earliest  recollection  to  about  the  time  of  the  enact- 
ment of  the  prohibitory  law  in  1851,  save  that  at 
different  periods  and  in  various  sections  the  agitation 
preceding  that  enactment  had  caused  the  traffic  to  be 
regarded  by  many  as  deserving  condemnation. 

Indeed,  the  enactment  of  a  measure,  so  widely 
departing  from  long  established  modes  of  dealing 
with  the  trade  it  outlawed,  suggests  that  such  legisla- 
tion could  only  have  grown  out  of  such  conditions. 
Revolutions  may  be  precipitated  by  events  trifling  in 
themselves,  but  their  real  sources  are  to  be  found  in  a 
necessity  for  change.  It  was  the  immensity  of  the 
evil  entailed  upon  the  state  by  the  traffic  that  finally 
induced  the  people  of  Maine  to  demand  its  extirpation. 

The  intimate  connection  between  the  licensed  liquor 
resorts  and  the  grossest  forms  of  evil  was  by  no  means 
a  discovery  of  the  temperance  reformers  in  Maine,  nor, 
indeed,  of  modern  times.     The  whole  groundwork  of 


13 


182  KEMINISCENCES 

the  argument  for  Prohibition  was  at  their  disposal 
when  they  had  fairly  commenced  effective  work.  The 
taverns  and  tippling  shops  had  then  long  been  recog- 
nized by  a  few  as  the  source  of  many  ills,  too 
numerous  to  be  counted,  too  multiform  to  be 
described.  Though  much  has  been  said  and  written 
upon  the  subject  since  that  day,  it  is  little  more  than ' 
a  repetition,  at  most  an  amplification,  of  what  had 
been  observed  and  described  many  years  ago  by  wise 
and  thoughtful  men,  concerned  for  the  general  good. 

The  knowledge,  however,  had  not  been  widely 
disseminated,  and,  had  there  been  no  other  reasons, 
attempts  to  correct  the  evil  were  handicapped  by  the 
almost  universal  belief  that,  though  the  nurseries  of 
great  troubles,  those  drinking  resorts  supplied  an 
indispensable  necessity.  The  evil  of  intemperance, 
meanwhile,  grew,  until  at  length  a  few  good  citizens 
saw  that  something  must  be  done,  and  that  it  was  as 
much  their  duty  as  that  of  any  one  else  to  do  it. 

It  is  the  first  step  that  costs,  and  it  is  questionable 
if  in  the  history  of  the  temperance  reformation  in 
Maine  anything  has  appeared  more  difficult  and  more 
hopeless  to  those  interested  in  it  than  the  first  effort 
in  the  early  days  of  this  century.  Yet  that  was  not  in 
the  first  instance  directed  ag^^inst  the  use  but  only  the 
abuse  of  liquors.  An  advocate  of  total  abstinence 
then  would  have  been  considered  more  a  subject 
for  criticism  than  were  the  most  abandoned  devotees 
of  the  drink  habit. 

Indeed,  liquor  was  generally  accounted  to  be  one  of 
the  good  gifts  of  God,  not  to  be  lightly  refused,  and 
the  rumsellers,  far  from  being  looked  upon  as  enemies 
of  their  kind,  were  by  the  overwhelming  proportion  of 
the  people  regarded  as  commissioned  for  the  distribu- 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  183 

tion  of  a  great  benefaction.  Regret  was  doubtless 
felt,  and  sometimes  expressed,  that  tliat  gift  was  mis- 
used, but  in  looking  for  the  remedy  total  abstinence 
was  not  thought  of  for  some  time.  That  was  not  even 
regarded  as  a  wise  precaution  for  personal  safety, 
much  less  as  a  Christian  obligation  by  way  of  example 
for  the  good  of  others. 

There  are  those  who  now  insist  that  antagonism  to 
the  liquor-traffic  is  quixotic  and  that  it  must  always 
be  fruitless  of  good  results.  They  endeavor  to  main- 
tain that  position  by  showing  that  after  nearly  a 
century  devoted  to  exposing  the  danger  of  the  drink- 
ing habit  the  annual  victims  of  intemperance  are  to 
be  counted  only  by  appalling  numbers;  that,  after  it 
has  been  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  outlawed,  the 
liquor-traffic  is  still  to  l)e  found  in  Maine. 

Some  of  these  doubters  are  to  be  found  in  that 
highest  of  all  callings,  whose  sacred  trust  it  is  to 
make  known  the  will  of  God.  They  teach  that  His 
law  was  thundered  from  Sinai,  and  believe  that  under 
and  around  those  commands,  to  give  them  force  and 
effect,  is  the  omnipotence  of  their  Divine  Maker. 
Yet  were  they  to  apply  to  the  ten  commandments  the 
same  tests  they  insist  upon  in  measuring  the  results 
of  the  temperance  reformation  of  this  century,  they 
would  show  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  who  are  restive 
under  its  prohibitions  that  the  decalogue  is  a  fail- 
ure. But  Christian  men  and  women  would  continue 
to  labor  as  before,  though  their  work  would  be  harder 
and  the  day  of  deliverance  from  sin  would  be  longer 
deferred,  because  they  had  been  thus  attacked  in  the 
rear. 

Eighteen  centuries  had  witnessed  to  the  vital  power 
of  the  Christian  religion  before  it  had  impressed  upon 


184  EEMINISCENCES 

the  life  and  practice  of  any  considerable  number,  even 
of  its  leaders  and  exponents,  in  the  matter  of  tem- 
perance, that  precept  of  self-abnegation,  "If  meat 
make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  meat  while 
the  world  stands."  Happily,  however,  at  last,  the 
dawn  came,  and  light  as  to  their  obligations  to  their 
fellow-men  who  looked  to  them  for  guidance  and 
advice,  found  its  way  into  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
Christian  teachers,  and,  coming  to  see  their  duty 
clear,  they  did  not  shrink  from  its  performance. 
Again,  happily,  there  were  some  such  living  in 
the  early  days  of  this  century  in  Maine,  and  with  a 
brief  reference  to  a  movement  inaugurated  by  two 
devout  clergymen  of  Portland,  my  story  of  the  rise 
and  progress  of  the  temperance  reformation  there 
will  commence. 

Not  long,  about  a  year,  after  the  establishment  of 
peace  following  the  war  of  1812,  a  few  citizens  of 
Portland  assembled  in  the  Quaker  meeting-house,  a 
plain,  brick  building,  on  the  corner  of  the  streets  now 
known  as  Federal  and  Pearl,  at  present  included  in 
Lincoln  Park,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  an  associa- 
tion based  on  the  principle  of  abstinence  from  ardent 
spirits.  The  Society  of  Friends  had  some  years  before 
that  time  borne  testimony  not  only  against  the  use 
of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage,  but  against  its 
sale.  Their  place  of  worship  was  naturally  selected, 
therefore,  for  the  first  organized  effort  to  reform  in 
the  little  town  the  excessive  drinking  customs  of  the 
day.  On  the  first  and  fifth  days  of  the  week  men  who 
were  leaders  in  every  legitimate  business  enterprise  in 
Portland,  as  well  as  others  less  prominent,  gathered 
there  for  worship.  There,  clothed  in  plain  and  simple 
garb,   they  gave  in    the  quiet  but  impressive    form 


or   NEAL    DOW.  185 

peculiar  to  their  society,  homage  to  the  Giver  of  all 
good.  There  they  cultivated  that  strength  of  char- 
acter and  matured  that  courage  of  conviction  which 
made  them  earnest  and  steadfast  in  antagonizing 
demoralizing  influences,  of  whatever  kind.  To  them 
the  opposition  of  the  world  to  any  reform  in  their 
minds  justified  of  God  weighed  as  little  as  did  its 
ridicule  of  their  plain  dress  and  quaint  speech.  So 
that  a  movement  was  approved  by  their  consciences,  it 
was  sure  of  their  sympathy  and  support,  whoever  else 
favored  or  opposed. 

This  meeting-house,  before  its  abandonment  as  a 
place  of  worship,  early  in  the  fifties,  gave  the  shelter 
of  its  friendly  roof  not  only  to  temperance  in  the  most 
unpopular  and  maligned  days  of  that  reform,  but 
when  every  other  public  building  was  closed  to  them, 
the  friends  of. the  early  antislavery  movement  were 
made  welcome  to  it,  and  there  they  were  once  fol- 
lowed by  a  mob  in  an  attempt  to  stifle  freedom  of 
speech,  which  attempt  was,  happily,  however,  sum- 
marily suppressed,  as  before  related. 

There  were  present  at  this  first  temperance  meeting 
the  two  most  widely  known  and  respected  clergymen 
in  the  district  of  Maine,  Edward  Payson  and  Ichabod 
Nichols.  These  were  representatives  of  the  diverging 
elements  of  the  early  church  of  New  England,  Dr. 
Payson  being  Orthodox,  and  Dr.  Nichols,  Unitarian. 
The  latter  was  settled  over  the  First  Parish  in  1809, 
and  his  pastorate  was  continued  for  many  years.  He 
died  in  1859,  having  passed  his  life  in  Portland,  where 
he  was  respected  by  the  entire  community  and  loved 
by  all  who  knew  him  intimately.  He  saw,  as  the 
fruit  of  the  seed  he  assisted  to  sow  in  the  old  Quaker 
meeting-house,  a  marvelous  growth  of  temperance  sen- 


186  REMINISCENCES 

timent  in  the  city  lie  loved,  to  the  higher  welfare  of 
which  he  contributed  so  much  by  his  noble  life,  hi& 
lofty  precepts,  and  his  pure  example. 

Dr.  Payson  had  been  settled  in  Portland  but  two 
years  prior  to  the  advent  of  Dr.  Nichols.  It  was  his 
refusal  to  exchange  service  with  Dr.  Nichols,  because 
of  the  developing  doctrinal  differences,  that  first 
emphasized  the  division  in  Portland  among  former 
adherents  of  the  old  Puritan  faith.  He  died  in  1827. 
Few  men  impress  themselves  upon  the  communities 
where  they  live  and  lal^or  as  did  Dr.  Payson.  His 
influence  was  such,  and  he  was  so  respected  and  loved 
by  his  church  and  congregation,  that  they  were  com- 
monly said  to  idolize  him.  Indeed,  so  marked  was  the 
devotion  of  his  society  to  him  that  it  was  at  times 
made  a  subject  for  captious  criticism,  and  after  his 
death  it  was  deemed  desirable  by  some  of  his  friends 
to  explain  in  a  memoir  the  feeling  entertained  for  him, 
and  to  show  that  it  was  not  .justly  open  to  such  com- 
ment. 

No  word  of  mine  in  praise  of  Dr.  Payson  is  needed. 
To  this  day,  though  more  than  half  of  a  century  after 
his  death,  his  name  is  perpetuated  in  those  of  the 
children  and  children's  children  of  the  generation 
which  sat  under  his  ministry,  and  is  still  a  household 
word  in  Portland.  His  descendants  are  among  our 
best  known  and  most  respected  citizens.  His  influ- 
ence is  felt  in  the  religious  life  of  the  city  in  which 
his  work  was  performed.  An  elegant  church  edifice, 
erected  as  a  memorial  to  him,  bears  his  name,  a 
precious  heritage  of  the  great  religious  body  he 
was  connected  with  in  life,  and  in  the  reverence  of 
which  he  was  long  since  canonized  for  his  piety  and 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  Master  he  served. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  187 

The  participation  of  those  ministers  in  that  meeting 
attracted  great  attention  in  Portland  and  vicinity  to 
an  undertaking  then  as  unpopular  as  it  was  novel. 
Indeed,  under  a  less  auspicious  endorsement  it  could 
hardly  have  gained  foothold,  for,  deservedly  great  as 
was  the  influence  of  those  two  leading  clergymen,  but 
sixty-seven  other  persons  were  willing  to  associate 
themselves  in  the  effort  they  inaugurated,  hence  the 
society  they  formed  was  locally  known  as  the  ' '  Sixty- 
Niners." 

It  is  not  probable  that  that  step  was  necessary,  as 
that  term  is  ordinarily  employed  in  this  connection,  to 
one  of  the  sixty-nine  on  his  own  account.  There  was 
no  apparent  reason  why  they  should  have  taken  up 
the  work,  that  did  not  bear  with  like  force  upon  the 
many  others  who  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
Remembering  as  I  do  the  impression  I  obtained  of 
Dr.  Payson  in  my  youth  and  young  manhood,  and 
knowing  Dr.  Nichols  as  I  did  during  much  of  his  long 
life,  I  can  conceive  of  no  other  influence  to  lead  them 
to  the  step  they  then  took  save  that  they  felt  called  to 
it  by  God. 

If  patriotism  is  to  be  measured  by  service  rendered 
to  the  state,  those  men  were  patriots,  none  more 
entitled  to  the  name.  If  heroism  consists  in  self- 
abnegation  in  a  righteous  cause,  those  men  were 
heroes,  none  to  be  more  highly  praised.  They  who 
would  trace  the  limits  of  the  usefulness  of  those 
men  to  society  must  measure  if  possible  the  con- 
stantly lengthening  distance  through  all  time  to 
come  between  the  tendencies  to  evil  that  they  were 
instrumental  in  checking  and  those  for  good  that 
they  were  enabled  to  set  in  motion.  He  who 
would  estimate  their  courage    must  remember  that 


188  KEMINISCENCES 

to  confront  the  fierce  sweep  of  the  world's  avarice 
and  appetite,  and  to  call  a  halt  to  a  peculiarly 
selfish  phase  of  the  selfishness  of  man,  requires 
the  highest  type  of  heroism.  Hearing  in  their 
own  consciences  the  voice  of  God  calling  to  them 
to  give  the  influence  of  their  precept  and  example 
against  a  wide-spread  and  constantly  extending 
vice,  they  took  up  the  cross  of  their  duty  and 
bore  it  through  opposition,  obloquy  and  reproach 
that  would  have  discouraged  and  cast  down,  men 
of    less  moral  strength. 

The  step  taken  in  that  Quaker  meeting-house,  how- 
ever natural,  reasonable  and  necessary  it  may  now 
seem,  was  a  criticism  upon  the  social  customs  of  the 
day  and  a  condemnation  of  usages  time-rooted  in  the 
habits  of  the  people.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to  stand 
up  in  the  presence  of  men  and  women  of  business, 
political,  and  social  influence  and  show  to  them  that 
the  ways  that  had  come  down  from  their  fathers  were 
destructive  to  their  fellows,  and  bid  them,  as  they 
loved  their  God  and  recognized  their  duty  to  man,  to 
change  their  course  and  thereafter  to  set  an  example 
which  might  help  and  could  not  hurt  others.  But 
those  men  did  more.  They  exemplifled  in  their  own 
lives  their  conviction  that  it  was  incumbent  upon 
them  to  so  direct  their  own  walk  that  those  who  fol- 
lowed them  might  find !  no  pitfalls  into  which  they 
should  plunge  to  their  temporal  and  eternal  ruin. 

This  example  that  they  set  was  more  offensive,  if 
possible,  than  the  precepts  they  taught.  It  was  a 
daily,  constant,  ever-present  reminder  to  others  of 
neglected  duties,  of  lost  opportunities  for  good,  and 
of  ever-operating  temptations  to  evil.  Naturally  this 
excited  opposition  among  those  wlio  did  not  read  their 


OF   KEAL   DOW.  189 

duty  in  the  same  light,  or  were  unwilling  to  practice 
the  abnegation  required  for  the  discharge  of  such 
obligations  to  God  and  man. 

The  "Sixty-Niners,"  therefore,  were  subjected  not 
only  to  the  ridicule  of  those  unable  to  comprehend 
the  significance  of  their  movement,  but  to  the  con- 
demnation of  another  very  different  class.  Their 
course  was  commented  upon  even  in  thoughtful, 
grave,  and  religious  circles  much  as  the  patrons  of  the 
gilded  high-license  saloons  of  the  present  time  discuss 
modern  phases  of  the  temperance  reformation.  Their 
critics  were  not  disposed  to  appear  indifferent  to  an 
effort  evidently  inspired  by  a  Christian-like  appre- 
ciation of  duty.  They  were  not,  they  did  not  care  to 
be  regarded,  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  their  fellows. 
They  sought  a  shelter,  therefore,  behind  which  their 
consciences  might  sleep  without  disturbance  and  their 
habits  be  continued  without  reproach.  They  found 
it  in  their  attempts  to  prove  that  the  example  of  the 
"Sixty-Niners"  was  unnecessary,  unwise,  and  at 
variance  with  divine  command. 

Another  meeting  was  then  called  in  Portland  to 
consider  what  could  be  done  to  stem  the  tide  of  intem- 
perance, ^ — ^  that  of  the  fanatical  "Sixty-Niners"  as 
well  as  of  the  hard  drinkers.  This  meeting  was  in 
the  most  famous  old-time  tavern  in  Portland,  and 
leading  citizens  took  part  who,  in  favor  of  "tem- 
perance," earnestly  opposed  total  abstinence.  It  was 
commonly  reported,  I  have  been  told,  that,  at  this 
gathering,  which  was  in  the  nature  of  a  dinner  or 
supper,  liquors  were  on  the  table,  and  it  was  during 
the  drinking  regarded  by  the  drinkers  as  "moderate," 
that  those  good  citizens  considered  what  could  be 
done  to  correct  the  intemperate  habits  of  the  masses. 


190  REMINISCENCES 

The  influence  of  this  meeting  was  to  excite  a  great 
deal  of  opposition  to  the  "  Sixty-Niners, "  which  mani- 
fested itself  in  many  ways.  Shortly  after  the  meeting 
an  attempt  was  made,  by  enemies  of  the  new  move- 
ment it  was  supposed,  to  destroy  by  fire  both  the 
Friends'  meeting-house  and  Dr.  Payson's  church. 

I  was  a  boy  when  the  "  Sixty-Nine "  society  was 
founded,  and  knew  nothing  more  of  the  gathering 
and  its  proceedings  than  I  heard  from  the  table-talk 
at  my  own  home,  or  from  the  conversation  of  other 
boys,  who  retailed  with  more  or  less  additions  and 
omissions  what  they  had  heard  from  their  parents. 
My  father  was  one  of  the  sixty-nine,  and  his  influence 
was  then  and  ever  afterwards  given  to  the  promotion 
of  temperance. 

Stories  were  told  and  jokes  cracked  at  the  expense 
of  the  "Sixty-Mners,"  which  number  was  shouted 
in  the  streets  by  urchins  who  had  no  knowledge 
of  what  it  meant,  l3ut  who  often  aided  in  a  most 
annoying  way  in  advertising  and  perpetuating  the 
name  of  the  new  society.  In  those  days  of  compara- 
tive poverty  and  strict  economy,  the  goodwife  in 
many  a  well-to-do  family  in  Portland  did  the  internal 
painting  of  her  house.  A  point  was  made  of  keeping 
the  frame  about  the  great  kitchen  fireplace  in  good 
order  as  to  paint,  and  the  boys  were  frequently  sent 
for  the  needed  pot  of  color. 

On  their  way  home  the  youngsters  practiced  the  art 
decorative,  and  it  was  their  favorite  pastime  to  daub 
the  figures  "69"  in  as  many  places  as  possible  between 
the  shop  and  their  homes,  as  they  carried  the  pot  of 
paint  to  their  mothers.  Because  of  this,  those  figures 
for  a  long  time  greeted  the  eye  from  every  place  that 
the  mischievous  boys  could  reach  with  their  brushes. 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  191 

Occasionally,  a  youth  with  more  zeal  than  discretion 
painted  "  69  "  on  some  new  fence  or  house,  and,  in  the 
corner-shop  discussions,  the  promoters  of  that  society 
were  held  responsible  by  some  of  their  opponents  for 
the  damage  thus  done  by  the  boys.  This,  by  the 
way,  is  quite  in  keeping  with  some  of  the  modern 
objections  to  Prohibition. 

I  do  not  know  how  long  that  society  existed  in  that 
particular  form,  but  from  that  day  there  was  constant 
progress  in  Portland  for  many  years,  though  it  was 
sometimes  slow,  and  from  then  to  the  present  there 
has  been  some  kind  of  associated  effort  in  behalf  of 
temperance  in  the  state.  It  was  peculiarly  appro- 
priate, perhaps  especially  significant  and  important, 
that  the  temperance  reformation  in  Maine  in  its 
purely  moral  phase  should  have  had  its  birth  here. 
Portland  was  the  fountain  head  of  the  liquor-traffic 
in  Maine.  The  nearest  important  point  in  the  district 
to  the  West  Indies,  a  great  part  of  its  relatively  large 
commercial  business  was  with  those  islands,  and 
depended  in  great  measure  upon  liquor.  Portland 
wharves  groaned  beneath  the  burden  of  West  India 
rum  awaiting  distribution  into  all  contiguous  territory 
by  country  teams,  and  to  many  smaller  eastern  ports 
by  coasting  vessels.  Her  distilleries  were  busy 
converting  West  India  molasses  into  New  England 
rum,  to  be  in  turn  similarly  distributed  by  Portland 
traders. 

Here  the  temperance  movement  w^as  sure  to  be 
antagonized  by  the  supposed  claims  of  business. 
From  the  days  when  the  money-changers  were  driven 
with  whips  from  the  temple,  down  through  the 
opposition  of  the  shrine-makers  for  Diana  to  the 
preaching  of  Paul,  and  the  days  of  the  slave-trade,  any 


192  KEMINISCENCES 

reform  supposed  to  be  inimical  to  money -making  has 
been  bitterly  antagonized.  Largely  and  peculiarly 
interested  in  lines  of  trade  tending  to  intemperance  as 
Portland  was,  any  attempt  at  reformation  in  that 
particular  was  here  sure  to  be  tested  as  by  fire.  If  it 
could  succeed  here  it  could  anywhere. 

To  the  men,  therefore,  who  gathered  in  that  little 
Quaker  meeting-house,  so  long  ago,  all  honor  is  due 
for  the  progress  that  has  since  been  made.  As  we 
who  live  amid  the  comforts  and  refinements  of  the 
closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  know  little  of 
the  hardships  of  those  who  wrested  homes  from  the 
forest  and  savage,  so  Ave  can  hardly  appreciate  the 
courage  of  the  men  who  took  the  first  step,  struck  the 
first  blow,  and  made  the  first  sacrifice  to  abolish 
abuses  long  established  in  custom  and  buttressed  by 
fancied  personal  and  public  interests. 

The  Sixty-Nine  society  was  almost  immediately 
productive  of  good.  Two  years  later,  in  January, 
1818,  the  Second  Parish  church,  over  which  Dr. 
Payson  presided,  through  his  influence,  dealt  with 
and  suspended  some  of  its  members  engaged  in  the 
liquor  business,  and  adopted  the  following  resolution: 

"This  church  considers  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  for 
purposes  of  entertainment,  refreshment,  or  traffic,  as  a  case 
of  immorality,  and  a  cause  of  discipline,  subjecting  the 
offender  to  suspension,  and,  if  persisted  in,  to  excommunica- 
tion." 

Nevertheless,  influential  opposition  to  the  effort  of 
the  ' '  Sixty-Niners "  continued,  and  was  felt  for  a 
considerable  period,  and  into  the  thirties  controlled 
many  who  desired  to  promote  sobriety  in  the  town. 
For  years,  only  a  few  who  interested  themselves  in 
the  reform  believed  either  in  the  necessity  or  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  193 

expediency  of  total  abstinence.  To  condeitin  drunk- 
enness in  others,  and  to  be  always  moderate  in  his 
own  drinking,  was  about  all  that  was  expected  of  the 
most  earnest  temperance  man  of  that  day.  Shortly 
after,  a  distinction  came  to  be  drawn,  and  for  many 
years  was  observed,  between  wine,  cider,  and  mild 
liquors  generally,  which  were  considered  as  harm- 
less, useful,  and  entirely  proper  beverages,  and  the 
stronger,  or,  as  they  were  then  called,  "ardent 
spirits."  For  years  even  those  who  manifested  deep 
interest  in  the  subject  only  felt  called  upon  to  pledge 
themselves  to  moderation,  and,  indeed,  considered  it 
unwise  to  advocate  the  abandonment  of  the  lighter 
grades  of  intoxicating  liquors.  I  remember  that  that 
was  my  view  until  I  was  twenty-five  years  of  age. 

Intelligent  men  could  not  seriously  consider  the 
evil  of  intemperance  without  coming  to  realize  that 
drunkenness  was  but  one,  and  by  no  means  the  worst, 
phase  of  it.  In  some  respects  that  is  the  most  start- 
ling, as  it  is  a  disgusting  form  of  this  evil,  but  the 
main  injury  to  society  at  large  is  done  in  the  passage 
of  the  victim  from  the  first  to  this  last  stage  of  the 
vice,  with  the  co-operation  of  those  who  never  get  on 
to  actual  drunkenness. 

Many  a  man  who  boasts  that,  though  he  has 
indulged  in  liquor  for  years  he  has  never  yet  been 
drunk,  has  inflicted  upon  his  fellows,  however  it  may 
have  been  as  to  himself,  tenfold  the  evil  he  would 
have  done  had  he  been  drunk  daily  since  taking  his 
first  glass.  In  the  latter  case  he  would  not  have  been 
found,  he  would  not  have  trusted  himself,  in  places 
of  responsibility  where  important  interests  involving 
the  welfare,  the  property,  the  lives  of  others,  were 
committed  to  his  car€. 


194  EEMmiSCENCES 

So  the  friends  of  temperance  came  to  understand 
that  society  suffered  from  the  drinking  habits  of 
men  who  were  not  intemperate,  who  perhaps  never 
would  become  so,  as  the  word  was  ordinarily  un- 
derstood. It  was  apparent  that  men  who  would  scorn 
the  suggestion  that  they  were  not  doing  their  part, 
were  not  l^earing  all  their  share  of  the  burdens  of 
society,  were,  in  fact,  unable  so  to  do.  At  some  crit- 
ical point  when  much  responsibility  was  resting  upon 
them,  unconsciously  to  themselves,  unknown  to  the 
majority  of  their  fellows,  their  ordinarily  sound,  reli- 
able judgment  had  failed  them,  their  strong  nerves 
had  weakened  under  the  excitement  of  drink,  and 
perforce   their  load  fell  upon    other  shoulders. 

Nor  did  society  suffer  only  negatively.  It  became 
evident  upon  observation  that  men  who  believed 
themselves  to  be  reliable  and  trustworthy,  who  would 
not  willingly  have  wrought  wrong  or  harm  in  any 
way  to  those  who  trusted  them,  were  yet  responsible 
for  wide-spread  evils,  —  who  can  know  how  varied  ? 
How  many  millions  of  property,  how  many  thou- 
sands of  lives,  have  been  lost  through  such,  can  never 
be  known,  but  the  acknowledged  facts  are  appalling. 
Shipwrecks  in  great  variety  and  without  number, 
railroad  accidents  innumerable,  boiler  explosions, 
mine  disasters,  ruined  firms  and  corporations,  moral 
delinquencies  involving  the  savings  of  thousands  — 
but  it  is  useless  to  specify.  Those  and  many  more 
injuries  to  society  have  been  traced  to  drunkenness. 
But  such  have  followed  less  marked  forms  of  intem- 
perance. An  inebriate  would  not  have  been  clothed 
with  the  responsibility  leading  up  to  such.  Many 
of  those  who  thought  themselves,  and  whose  friends 
thought  them,    free  from  the  vice  of  intemperance, 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  "  195 

"but  who,  substituting  a  little  wine  for  wit,  have, 
with  the  temerity  of  their  "Dutch  courage,"  en- 
countered that  danger,  moral  and  physical,  against 
which  their  cooler  judgments  would  have  guarded 
them  and  the  interests  committed  to  their  care. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  early  temperance  reformers 
began  their  work  before  they  saw  that  the  great  evil 
was  in  something  besides  drunkenness,  and  that  a 
true  temperance  reformation  must  look  to  prevention 
rather  than  to  cure.  Now  they  began  to  appreciate 
the  importance  of  a  good  example  in  their  own  lives. 
With  my  sisters,  I  was  frequently  at  parties  given 
by  the  young  people  of  our  acquaintance.  At  these, 
among  other  refreshments,  wine  was  always  served, 
and  was  used  as  any  other  drink  would  be,  no  ques- 
tions raised,  no  exceptions  taken.  When  one  season 
it  became  our  turn  to  entertain,  our  attention  having 
been  called  to  the  subject  of  temperance,  my  sisters 
and  I  discussed  the  propriety  of  offering  wine.  We 
were  unanimous  in  thinking  that  we  ought  not  to 
offer  it,  but  my  older  sister  suggested  that  our  motives 
would  be  misinterpreted  and  that  the  omission  of  wine 
might  do  more  harm  than  good  to  temperance,  besides 
provoking  criticism  that  would  create  discord  in  our 
circle. 

I  was  inclined  to  that  view,  but  my  younger  sister 
insisted  that  it  was  for  us  to  do  what  we  believed  to 
be  right,  leaving  the  rest  to  Providence.  We  resolved 
to  act  upon  that  suggestion.  Our  party  was  a  large 
one  for  those  days,  and  was  regarded  as  a  great 
success,  the  absence  of  wine  being  more  than  made 
up  in  other  ways.  Its  influence  was  such  that  the 
omission  of  wine  on  such  occasions  came  to  be  fre- 
quent,  then  common,   and    after    a    long    time,   the 


196  EEMINISCEXCES 

general  rule,  among  all  religions  or  serionsly  inclined 
people. 

Thongli  Holy  Writ  had  denounced  those  who 
catered  to  the  demand  for  intoxicants  by  putting  the 
bottle  to  their  neighbors'  lips,  general  sentiment  in 
the  church  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  traffic  was  lax,  as 
late  as  a  time  after  I  had  become  interested  in 
temperance.  But  the  call  to  duty  had  been  clear. 
Perhaps  no  agency  had  greater  influence  in  arousing 
attention  upon  the  part  of  the  church  than  the  famous 
six  sermons  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher.  No  one  can 
to-day  read  those  powerful  discourses  without  appre- 
ciating the  inconsistency  of  a  consent  upon  the  part  of 
professing  Christians  to  the  iniquity  of  the  liquor 
trade.  In  those  sermons,  in  describing  the  influence 
of  liquor  establishments  in  a  community,  he  employed 
such  expressions  as  these: 

"  They  raise  up  a  generation  of  drunkards The 

ease  with  which  families  can  provide  themselves  with  large 
quantities  eventuates  in  frequent  drinking  and  wide-spread 
intemperance. 

"What  merchant  in  looking  out  for  a  place  where  to 
establish  himself  in  trade  would  neglect  the  invitation  of 
temperate,  thrifty  farmers  and  mechanics  and  settle  down  in  a 
village  of  riot  and  drunkenness,  made  up  of  tipplers,  widows 
and  degraded  children,  of  old  houses,  broken  windows  and 
dilapidated  fences?  Commerce  in  ardent  spirits  is  unlawful, 
first,  inasmuch  as  it  is  useless ;  and,  second,  as  it  is  eminently 
pernicious.  Property,  reputation,  wealth,  life  and  salvation 
fall  l)efore  it.  The  direct  infliction  of  what  is  thus  done 
indirectly  would  subject  a  man  guilty  of  it  to  a  public  execu- 
tion. It  is  scarcely  a  palliation  of  this  evil  that  no  man  has 
destroyed  maliciously  or  with  any  intent  to  kill,  for  a 
certainty  of  evil  is  as  great  as  if  waters  were  poisoned  which 
some  persons  would  surely  drink,  or  as  if  a  man  should  fire 
in  the  dark  u})ou  masses  of  human  beings  where  it.  would  be 
certain  that  death  would  be  the  consequence  to  some." 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  197 

And  finally,  addressing  legislators,  Dr.  Beecher 
said: 

'"  With  the  concurrent  aid  of  an  enlightened  public  senti- 
ment you  possess  the  power  of  a  most  efficacious  legislation. 
Mucli  power  is  given  to  you  to  check  and  extirpate  this  evil 
and  to  roll  down  the  distant  ages  broader  and  deeper  and 
purer  the  streams  of  national  prosperity." 

Dr.  Beecher  was  one  of  the  earliest,  ablest,  and 
most  devoted  friends  of  the  temperance  cause.  No 
man  did  more  than  he  to  arouse  the  people  to  realize 
the  evils  of  intemperance  and  to  stimulate  them  to 
active  measures  to  check  its  progress.  He  suggested 
very  clearly  that  any  permanent  change  for  the  better 
in  the  habits  of  the  people  would  be  improbable,  if  not 
impossible,  without  the  suppression  by  law  of  the 
traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors. 

The  attention  of  many  clergymen  throughout  Maine 
was  called  to  the  subject  by  his  sermons.  These  were 
read,  in  whole  or  in  part,  from  pulpits  or  at  spe- 
cial meetings  of  churches  called  for  the  purpose. 
Through  these  efforts,  the  question  came  to  be 
discussed  formally  and  publicly  among  church- 
members  as  to  what  was  their  duty  toward  the 
reformation.  Who  can  doubt  the  conclusion  arrived 
at  by  the  prayerful,  conscientious,  and  courageous  ? 

The  temperance  movement  in  Portland  received 
great  impetus  from  a  visit  of  Rev.  Justin  Edwards, 
D.  D. ,  I  think  in  the  later  twenties,  or  early  thirties. 
Until  then  but  little  impression  had  been  made 
upon  the  '"respectability"  of  the  liquor-traffic,  or 
touching  the  inconsistency  of  being  engaged  in  it 
while  claiming  to  be  a  Christian.  But  a  sermon  of 
Dr.  Edwards,  delivered  in  the  First  Parish  church, 
caused  a  great  awakening.     Those  ah-eady  interested 


198  KEMINISCENCES 

were  stimulated  to  renewed  zeal  by  that  sermon, 
while  others  before  indifferent  came  to  regard  it  their 
duty  to  assist. 

I  record  a  somewhat  remarkable  result  of  that 
effort.  Each  of  three  partners  in  a  wholesale  estab- 
lishment, all  professed  Christians,  was  in  attendance 
with  his  family.  Impressed  by  the  sermon  of  Dr. 
Edwards,  each  decided,  in  consultation  with  his  wife, 
to  withdraw  from  the  firm  if  the  sale  of  liquor  was 
not  abandoned,  and  each,  in  the  counting-room  the 
next  morning,  found  that  his  partners  had  come  to 
the  same  conclusion.  The  liquor  branch  of  the  busi- 
ness was  that  day  discontinued. 

The  temperance  reformation  in  Maine  was  born  in 
the  church.  In  its  infancy  it  was  almost  wholly 
dependent  upon  religious  leaders  and  teachers.  In 
the  days  of  its  youth  and  young  maturity  it  was 
stimulated,  encouraged  and  sustained  by  the  same 
powerful  agency.  It  never  could  have  attained  the 
height  it  afterwards  reached  but  for  that  early  and 
continued  assistance  of  godly  men  and  women.  It 
waits  for  final  and  complete  triumph  until  those 
whose  calling  it  is  to  declare  "all  the  counsel  of 
God"  shall  deem  it  their  duty  to  teach  that  He 
abhors  everything  that  tends,  however  remotely,  to 
the  destruction  of  the  living  bodies  and  the  immortal 
souls  of  men. 

For  some  time  most  of  the  earnest  promoters  of  the 
cause  confined  themselves  to  urging  moderation,  or 
the  "use,"  not  the  "abuse,"  of  liquor.  In  1827,  how- 
ever, a  society  was  organized  in  the  town  of  New 
Sharon,  so  far  as  I  know  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the 
state,  which  adopted  the  pledge  of  total  abstinence 
from  ' '  distilled  "  spirits.     Commencing  its  work  with 


OF    NEAL   DOW.  199 

ten  members,  within  a  year  it  had  increased  to 
seventy.  A  little  later,  five  persons  associated  them- 
selves for  the  same  purpose  in  the  town  of  Prospect, 
and  in  a  few  months  the  membership  of  this  latter 
society  had  increased  to  over  one  hundred. 

The  first  published  report  of  this  association,  after 
relating  the  circumstanoes  of  its  organization,  stated 
that  on  the  day  after  its  first  meeting  it  was  found 
that  a  storm  of  opposition  had  arisen  and  was  raging 
with  tremendous  violence.  The  antagonism  was 
multiform,  determined  and  powerful.  The  new 
school  was  everywhere  spoken  against.  Under  the 
standard  of  hostility  were  found  the  old  and  the 
young,  the  rich  and  the  poor.  The  temperate  and 
intemperate  met  on  common  ground,  and  "even 
female  tongues  launched  forth  the  shafts  of  ridicule." 
Despite  the  resistance  it  encountered,  the  organiza- 
tion continued  its  work  for  some  time,  holding 
monthly  meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  town. 

Similar  societies  were  formed  during  the  same  year 
in  Windsor,  Buckfield,  and  Gorham.  In  1828  one  was 
organized  in  Gardiner,  which  adopted  a  pledge 
drafted  by  the  Rev.  Phineas  Crandall,  of  Hallowell, 
who  a  short  time  previously  had  established  a  paper 
in  that  town  called.  The  Genius  of  Temperance.  Mr. 
Crandall  was  one  of  the  most  advanced  and  pro- 
nounced temperance  men  of  his  day.  He  was  an 
effective  and  interesting  speaker,  and  rendered  most 
efficient  service  in  the  promotion  of  the  cause  in 
which  he  took  a  deep  interest.  The  pledge  of  this 
society  read  as  follows: 

"Persons  who  sign  this  constitution,  and  thereby  become 
members  of  this  society,  agree  to  abstain  from  the  internal 
use  of  distilled  spirits  except  when  indispensable  for  medic- 


200  KEMINISCENCES 

inal  purposes,  and  wine  except  for  the  same  purpose,  or 
sacramental  occasions ;  that  they  will  not  offer  them  to  their 
friends,  to  persons  in  their  employment,  or  countenance  their 
use  in  their  families  only  in  the  cases  above  excepted ;  that 
they  will  not  knowingly  vote  for  a  man  for  any  civil  office 
who  is  in  the  habit  of  using  ardent  spirits  or  wine  to  excess, 
and,  so  far  as  the  nature  of  their  condition  will  admit,  to  give 
the  preference  in  their  dealings  to  those  store-keepers  who  do 
not  allow  ardent  spirits  to  be  drunk  in  their  stores." 

I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  the  adoption  of  this 
pledge  was  the  first  action,  taken  anywhere  in  the 
state,  favoring  the  introduction  of  the  temperance 
question  in  any  form  into  politics. 

A  word  of  explanation  as  to  the  last  clause  of  this 
pledge  may  not  be  out  of  place.  Already  some  mer- 
chants had  come  to  abandon  in  whole  or  in  part  the 
sale  of  liquor.  Some  refused  to  sell  it  to  be  drunk  on 
the  premises;  others  gave  up  retailing  it  altogether, 
while  continuing  to  sell  it  by  wholesale  to  those  who 
did  retail  it.  There  were  others  still  who,  though  not 
selling,  kept  it  in  stock  to  ' '  treat "  customers  purchas- 
ing other  goods,  holding  that  there  was  nothing  in 
this  custom  (which  they  thought  necessary  to  meet 
the  competition  of  those  who  continued  to  sell  liquor) 
inconsistent  with  their  duty  as  good  citizens,  or  their 
obligations,  perchance,  as  Christians.  For  some  time 
this  practice  in  many  stores  was  a  serious  obstacle  to 
the  prosecution  of  the  work  in  Maine,  and  became  a 
specific  object  for  correction. 

This  latter  custom,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  yet  finds 
its  counterpart  in  a  practice  countenanced  by  some 
wholesale  mercantile  establishments  in  permitting 
their  commercial  travelers  to  include  in  their  expense- 
accounts  money  paid  for  treating  customers.  Some- 
times the  amount  is  covered  in  a  general  charge,  too 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  201 

often  well  known  to  include  the  "drink  money." 
Pernicious  in  its  moral  effects,  this  custom  has  no 
justification  on  sound  business  principles.  The  buyer 
who  can  be  induced  by  drink  to  purchase  what  he 
otherwise  would  not,  is  sure  —  it  is  only  a  matter  of 
time  —  to  lessen  his  ability  to  pay  for  what  he  has 
bought,  while  the  purchaser  strong  enough  to  resist 
such  seductions  to  ill-considered  purchases  is  quite 
likely  to  attribute  the  worst  motives  to  such  offers 
to  treat.  Meanwhile  it  often  happens  that  the  whole- 
saler loses  otherwise  by  the  demoralization  of  his 
agent  traceable  to  the  practice. 

The  organization  of  societies  throughout  the  state 
continued  during  the  next  two  or  three  years.  The 
pledges  they  adopted  varied  somewhat,  as  did  their 
methods  of  work,  but  they  all  sought  the  same  gen- 
eral object  —  a  change  in  the  customs  of  the  people 
w^hich  had  led  to  gross  intemperance. 

In  almost  every  instance  the  leading  men  in  these 
societies  were  clergymen.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  without  their  aid  the  great  reformation  would 
have  been  postponed  for  years,  if  indeed  it  could  ever 
have  reached  the  point  to  which  it  attained  through 
their  assistance  in  a  comparatively  short  time.  Most 
of  the  societies  formed  at  this  period  were  content  to 
make  the  test  of  membership  a  pledge  to  abjure 
"ardent"  spirits.  But  here  and  there  were  to  be 
found  those  taking  the  more  advanced  position  in 
favor  of  total  abstinence.  ^ 

That  was  generally  done  under  the  leadership  of 
some  man  of  God  who  enforced  upon  the  members  of 
his  church  their  duty,  nay,  showed  them  that  it 
should  be  their  pleasure,  to  adopt  even  what  they 
did  not  deem  in  their  own  cases  to  be  needful  for 


202  REMINISCENCES 

tlieir  own  safety,  or  to  abandon  that  which  they  did 
not  view  as  in  itself  a  wrong,  if  by  such  sacrifice  they 
might  do  good.  Some  of  these  clergymen  did  this 
from  an  intuitive  perception  of  their  obligations  to 
their  Master,  some  because  they  had  had  experience 
similar  to  that  related  of  Bishop  H.  C.  Potter,  which 
I  have  seen  in  print. 

"  '  Doctor,'  said  a  lady  at  a  fashionable  dinner-party,  a  few 
years  ago,  to  Bishop  Henry  C.  Potter,  '  I  observe  that  you 
take  no  wine.'  'No,'  said  Dr.  Potter,  'I  have  not  done  so 
for  many  years  —  in  fact,  for  twenty-five  years.'  She 
expressed  surprise  in  the  look  which  met  the  doctor's  answer. 
'  It  may  interest  you  to  know  why  I  abstain,'  said  Dr.  Potter, 
observing  the  expression  of  his  companion.  '  I  will  tell  you. 
A  man  with  an  unconquerable  passion  for  drink  came  con- 
stantly to  see  me,  and  told  me  how  this  miserable  passion  was 
brinoincr  him  to  utter  ruin ;  how  his  employers,  every  time  he 
obtained  a  situation,  were  compelled  to  dismiss  him  because 
of  his  terrible  habit.  One  day  I  said  to  this  man,  Why  will 
you  not  say,  here  and  now,  before  God,  and  in  his  help,  I 
will  never  taste  liquor  again.  The  man  said.  Doctor,  if 
you  were  in  my  place  you  would  not  say  that.  I  answered. 
Temperate  man  that  I  am,  I  will  say  so  this  moment.  And 
I  spoke  the  solemn  vow  that  I  had  called  upon  him  to  make. 
My  poor  friend  looked  at  me  with  consternation  ;  then  an 
expression  of  hope  overspread  his  face.  AVith  steady  voice 
he  pronounced  the  vow.  A  moment  after  he  left  me,  but 
returned  often  to  see  me.  The  vow  has  been  kept ;  and  he 
that  was  fast  losing  soul  and  body  found  a  position,  kept  it, 
and  became  not  only  a  sober,  but  a  godly  man.'" 

Where  is  the  Christian  minister,  who,  professing  to 
love  God,  and  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
Founder  of  his  faith,  would  deem  it  too  great  a  sacri- 
fice to  abandon  his  wine  if  thereby  he  might  save  a 
single  soul  ? 

Unquestionably  Bishop  Potter  would  have  taken 
that  position  earlier,  indeed  would  have  made  a  far 
greater  sacrifice  if  necessary,  to  avoid  all  possible  evil 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  203 

consequences  of  a  liabit  lie  might  regard  as  harmless 
in  itself,  had  such  possibility  occurred  to  him  before 
the  experience  related.  So  it  was  with  many  of  the 
early  clergymen  in  Maine;  so  it  is  with  the  over- 
whelming proportion  of  them  to-day.  Their  refusal 
to  set  an  example,  and  their  advice  to  those  who 
looked  to  them  for  spiritual  guidance  and  comfort  not 
to  set  an  example  that  might  prove  a  stumbling-block 
to  others,  made  progress  in  Maine  far  easier  than  it 
would  otherwise  have  been. 

Necessarily,  in  attempting  to  detail  the  methods  of 
revolutionizing  public  opinion  in  Maine  with  reference 
to  the  liquor-traffic  leading  to  the  enactment  of  a  pro- 
hibitory law,  I  must  dwell  largely  upon  what  came 
under  my  own  observation.  Naturally,  I  am  more 
familiar  with  the  work  of  which  my  own  efforts  were 
a  part,  but  I  had  personal  knowledge  of  only  a  small 
portion  of  what  was  being  done  throughout  the  state. 
Here,  as  I  begin  the  relation  of  my  own  part,  I  wish  to 
note  what  I  trust  will  be  borne  in  mind  by  those  who 
read  these  pages  after  I  shall  have  passed  on  to  rest. 
In  that  work  I  was  only  one  of  many. 

If,  in  attempting  to  discharge  my  duty,  as  God  gave 
me  to  see  it,  I  have  been  able  in  any  way  to  aid  my 
fellow-men,  I  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  for  such 
measure  of  usefulness,  to  the  guardians,  guides  and 
exemplars  of  my  youth ;  to  those  to  whom  I  looked  for 
advice  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  temperance  move- 
ment in  Maine,  and  to  those,  as  well,  who  later  shared 
with  me  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day.  They  were 
to  be  found  in  every  walk  in  life,  earnest,  sincere, 
unselfish,  effective.  With  them  I  was  proud  to.  be 
associated;  by  them  I  was  glad  to  be  inspired, 
advised,  encouraged.      The  friends  of  temperance  in 


204  REMINISCENCES 

those  stormy  days  had  little  time  for  mutual  admira- 
tion or  congratulation.  Each  had  his  allotted  task  to 
perform,  requiring  all  the  time  and  strength  he  had  to 
spare.  The  result  may  best  show  how  well  that  duty 
was  done.  I  would  be  glad,  if  I  could,  to  record  the 
names  of  all  those  true  and  faithful  men.  God  in  his 
infinite  mercy  has  spared  my  life  though  calling  most 
of  them  home.  Nothing  I  can  say  will  do  justice  to 
what  they  manifested,  by  patience  and  zeal,  of  love 
for  God  and  a  strong  desire  for  the  uplifting  of  their 
fellow-men.  By  their  deeds  they  are  known,  and 
their  labors  will  speak  through  all  eternity. 

Peculiar  circumstances  almost  impelled  me  to  an 
interest  in  the  temperance  movement.  I  do  not 
remember  any  period  of  my  life,  after  I  was  of  suffi- 
cient age  to  observe  and  to  think  for  myself,  when  the 
awful  effects  of  intemperance  did  not  claim  from  me 
more  than  merely  casual  thought.  In  my  early  youth 
a  near  neighbor  was  a  confirmed  inebriate.  Because 
of  his  habits,  he  and  his  unfortunate  family,  from 
time  to  time,  required  aid  from  my  parents.  His  case, 
therefore,  served  at  our  table  and  fireside  to  add 
weight  to  the  precepts  of  sobriety  and  abstinence, 
ordinarily  inculcated  in  New  England  Quaker  homes 
of  the  period.  It  required  no  unusual  mental  power 
in  me,  even  as  a  small  lad,  to  trace  to  drink  the  com- 
parative wretchedness  and  squalor  in  that  drunken 
neighbor's  home. 

When  a  small  boy,  I  was  much  impressed  by  hearing 
my  father  say  at  the  dinner-table  that  he  had  that 
forenoon  witnessed  the  conveyance  of  a  tract  of  land, 
now  in  the  business  portion  of  Portland,  occupied  by 
stores.  It  was  transferred  to  settle  a  score,  charged 
at  the  shop  of  the  grantee  against  the  grantor,  for 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  205 

liquor  furnislied  in  the  glass  and  drunk  on  the 
premises.  The  incident  was  indelibly  fixed  in  my 
memory  by  the  remark  with  which  my  father  opened 

the  topic :     "At  last  poor  Friend has  drunk  up 

his  land!"  This  expression  arrested  my  youthful 
attention  sufficiently  to  enable  me  to  comprehend 
something  of  the  conversation  which  followed. 

My  mother  was  an  exceedingly  kind  and  charitable 
woman.  No  worthy  applicant  for  aid  was  turned 
empty-handed  from  her  door.  She  made  it  a  duty  to 
investigate  the  case  of  every  applicant,  where  she  was 
not  previously  informed,  and  I  was  frequently  her 
companion  in  the  errands  with  which  she  thus 
charged  herself,  seeing  for  myself  much  that  led  her 
to  pour  precept  after  precept  into  my  willing  ears. 
By  her  I  was  taught  to  abhor  the  very  idea  of  liquor 
drinking,  and  at  her  feet,  not  less  from  her  example 
than  from  her  precept,  I  came  to  believe  that  to  be 
indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  others  was  a  sin  and  a 
shame.  As  I  grew  older,  therefore,  I  was  prepared  to 
observe,  perhaps  at  an  earlier  age  than  is  the  case 
with  many,  the  devastating  effects  of  intemperance. 

In  my  younger  manhood,  before  I  reached  my 
majority,  my  attention  was  called  to  the  subject  as  a 
matter  of  practical  importance.  I  was  brought  into 
contact  with  many  who  depended  upon  daily  manual 
labor  for  support,  and  to  whom,  therefore,  health, 
strength,  and  continuous  employment  were  all- 
important.  My  interest  in  them  was  easily  enlisted, 
and  I  came  to  know  something,  through  my 
opportunities  for  close  personal  observation,  of  the 
condition  of  their  families.  I  was  impressed,  not 
only  with  the  prevalence  of  drunkenness  among  them, 
which  indeed  was  more  or  less  apparent  in  all  classes 


206  EEMIJ^ISCENCES 

of  society,  but  by  the  evident  inability  of  workmen  to 
provide  for  the  pressing  necessities  of  their  families 
when  spending  so  much  as  was  their  habit  for  intoxi- 
cants. 

I  saw  health  impaired,  capacity  undermined, 
employment  lost.  I  saw  wives  and  children  suffering 
from  the  drinking  habits  of  husbands  and  fathers 
long  before  the  latter  could  be  said  to  have  become 
drunkards,  in  the  parlance  of  that  day.  I  saw  that, 
as  a  rule,  neither  industry,  thrift,  prudence,  saving 
nor  comfort  was  to  be  found  where  indulgence  in 
intoxicants  prevailed.  Called  often  to  render  assist- 
ance in  these  cases,  my  indignation  at  the  men  who 
brought  so  much  suffering  upon  their  families  for  the 
gratification,  as  it  then  seemed  to  me,  of  a  mere  taste 
for  liquor,  softened  into  pity  and  sympathy  when 
I  found  them  the  apparently  helpless  victims  of  a 
controlling  appetite  that  was  dragging  them  to  ruin. 
My  observation  of  this  had  its  effect  in  determining 
the  position  I  afterwards  took. 

I  had  attended  meetings  held  under  the  auspices  of 
those  who  traced  their  interest  to  the  influence  of  the 
"  Sixty-Mners, "  and  I  was  quite  prepared  to  take  a 
stand  when  called  upon  to  do  so.  The  opportunity 
soon  offered.  I  was  twenty-four  years  of  age  at  the 
time.  The  Deluge  Engine-company,  of  which  I  was 
clerk,  was  about  to  celebrate  its  first  anniversary. 
It  was  proposed  that  the  officers  be  directed  to  provide 
liquors  for  the  occasion  at  the  company's  expense.  I 
took  the  floor  and  opposed  the  proposition  as  earnestly 
as  I  could.  There  was  considerable  discussion,  and 
some  feeling  was  developed,  but  I  was  sustained  by 
the  company.  This  was  due,  I  think,  (juite  as  much 
to  the  personal  regard  of  the  members  for  me  (I  was 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  207 

the  junior  of  most  of  tliem)  as  to  tlieir  full  assent  to 
my  views. 

That  speech  caused  some  talk  outside  the  company, 
and  a  short  time  thereafter  I  was  called  upon  to  speak 
at  a  temperance  meeting  where  I  had  expected  to  be  a 
listener.  Soon  I  was  invited  to  be  one  of  the 
announced  speakers  at  a  meeting  to  be  held,  and 
prepared  for  the  occasion  to  the  extent  of  writing  out 
in  full  what  I  proposed  to  say. 

In  the  winter  of  1815,  the  Maine  Charitable 
Mechanics'  Association  was  organized  in  Portland.  I 
became  a  member  of  it  almost  immediately  after  my 
majority.  That  society  yet  exists,  after  a  long  life  of 
varied  prosperity.  In  its  earlier  days,  especially,  it 
exerted  great  influence  in  the  town,  and  soon  came  to 
be  a  potential  agency  in  the  propagation  of  the  princi- 
ples underlying  the  temperance  reform. 

Its  members  had  unusual  opportunities  to  see  the 
evil  effects  of  the  liquor-trafiic  and  the  drinking 
habits  of  the  day.  Through  them  most  of  the  labor- 
ing men  of  the  town  found  employment.  They  paid 
out  a  large  portion  of  the  money  distributed  as  wages 
for  skilled,  as  well  as  unskilled,  labor,  and  they  had 
constantly  before  them  the  evidence  that  no  inconsid- 
erable proportion  was  expended  for  liquor.  They 
saw,  too,  in  the  resulting  indisposition  to  work,  in 
the  loss  of  time  from  drinking,  and  the  impairment 
of  energy,  capacity  and  health  by  debauch  that  the 
money  thus  spent  was  more  unwisely  used  than  if 
thrown  into  the  sea. 

In  those  days,  master-mechanics  were  brought  into 
contact  with  the  families  of  their  employees  much 
more  than  now.  They  saw  the  poverty,  misery  and 
disease  brought  upon  wives  and  children  by  the  excess 


208  KEMINISCENCES 

ill  drink  of  the  husband  and  father,  and  their  sym- 
pathies were  aroused.  They  were  practical  men  of 
affairs.  They  knew  that  their  own  success  depended 
in  great  measure  upon  the  capacity,  skill  and  faith- 
fulness of  their  employees  but  they  were  often  com- 
pelled to  pay  for  untrustworthiness  and  incapacity 
caused  by  drink  where  they  had  contracted  for  better 
service.  They  knew,  too,  that  their  own  prosperity, 
and  that  of  the  town  in  which  they  lived,  were 
interchangeable,  and  they  were  in  a  condition  to  be 
easily  convinced  that  the  public  weal  could  be  served 
by  sober  and  industrious,  but  never  by  drunken  and 
shiftless  citizens.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that 
the  Mechanics'  Association  came  to  consider  ways  and 
means  of  mitigating  the  terrible  evils  of  intemperance. 

At  different  times,  in  one  form  or  another,  the 
subject  was  under  discussion  in  the  association,  as 
one  intimately  affecting  its  interests,  and  of  vital 
importance  to  the  welfare  of  those  in  the  employ  of 
its  members.  I  participated  in  those  discussions,  but 
to  no  greater  extent  than  would  be  expected  of  a 
young  member  interested  in  the  topic. 

In  the  winter  of  1829,  the  association  took  under 
consideration  a  proposition  to  change  a  custom  almost 
universal,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  recommend 
some  plan  by  which  masters  would  stop  furnishing 
their  journeymen  and  apprentices  with  ardent  spirits. 
Contractors  and  others  employing  workmen  were 
then  as  much  expected  to  provide  liquor  for  their 
employees  as  to  pay  them  wages.  Of  course  the 
workmen  received  less  money  than  if  not  supplied 
with  rum,  and  it  is  not  hazarding  much  to  say  that 
tlie  work  was  not  as  well  done  as  if  the  compensation 
had  been  all  cash.     Few  workmen  or  employers  liad 


or    NEAL    DOW.  209 

thought  of  that.  So  general  was  that  cuBtom  that 
even  the  small  number  of  workmen  who  did  not  care 
for,  or  would  not  drink,  the  liquor,  received  no  more 
pay  in  cash  for  the  same  amount  of  labor  than  if  they 
had  insisted  upon  stimulants.  Conditions  were  such 
that  an  employer  not  furnishing  liquor  had  as  much 
difficulty  in  hiring  and  retaining  help  as  would  one 
to-day  paying  less  than  the  ruling  rate  of  wages; 
hence,  if  anything  was  to  be  done  to  stop  the  per- 
nicious practice,  it  was  necessary  that  all  employers 
should  co-operate. 

At  the  time  the  before-mentioned  committee  was 
appointed,  another  was  raised  charged  by  the  associa- 
tion to  inquire  if  legislative  aid  could  not  be  given  to 
prevent  the  collection  of  debts  contracted  for  ardent 
spirits.  Of  each  of  these  committees  I  was  the  junior 
member.  They  had  several  meetings,  and  gave  care- 
ful attention  to  the  matters  committed  to  them. 
They  consulted  master-mechanics  and  journeymen; 
they  conferred  with  lawyers  and  some  of  the  few 
tradespeople  who  did  not  sell  liquor.  I  gave  some 
time  to  the  investigation,  and  my  service  on  those 
committees  unquestionably  increased  the  interest  I 
was  already  taking  in  the  question. 

The  first  committee  reported  at  length,  setting  forth 
the  evils  and  urging  the  abolishment  of  the  existing 
practice.  Its  recommendation  was  adopted  by  an 
almost  unanimous  vote,  and  the  master-mechanics 
belonging  to  the  society  took  measures  to  give  effect 
to  the  position  taken.  Though  a  great  power  for 
good  in  Portland,  that  action  subjected  the  associa- 
tion and  its  members  to  criticism  and  abuse  from 
liquor-sellers  and  others  whose  fancied  interests, 
habits  or  sympathies  led  them  to  favor  the  "good, 


210  REMINISCENCES 

old  way."  Tlie  resulting  discussions,  and  even  some 
of  tlie  antagonisms  created^  had  an  influence  in  fixing 
the  position  of  several  members  of  the  association  in 
the  ranks  of  active  temperance  men  during  the  contest 
which  soon,  and  for  years,  was  to  be  waged  all  along 
the  line  in  Portland. 

As  to  the  proposition  submitted  to  the  other  com- 
mittee, a  favorable  report  was  also  made.  So  far  as  I 
am  aware,  the  appointment  of  this  committee  was  the 
first  step  in  Maine  toward  establishing  by  law  the 
policy  which  years  afterwards  was  engrafted  and  has 
since  been  maintained  in  the  statutes  of  this  state,  viz : 

"  No  action  shall  be  maintained  upon  any  claim  or  demand, 
promissory  note,  or  other  security,  contracted  or  given  for 
intoxicating  liquors." 

The  first  aggressive  step  on  my  part  against  legal 
regulations  that  I  remember  was  taken  shortly  after 
the  date  of  the  appointment  of  those  two  committees. 
On  my  motion  the  association  voted,  in  the  spring  of 
1829,  to  request  the  selectmen  to  insert  in  the  warrant 
for  the  api)roaching  town-meeting  an  article  to  see  if 
the  town  would  not  vote  to  discontinue  the  practice  of 
ringing  the  "Eleven  O'clock  Bell"  as  a  signal  for 
workmen  to  rest  from  labor  and  refresh  themselves 
with  liquor.  I  was  made  the  agent  of  the  association 
to  present  this  request  to  the  selectmen.  They  lis- 
tened to  me  courteously,  and  promised  to  take  the 
matter  under  consideration.  Nothing  more  came  of 
it.  liowever.  then,  and  "Eleven  O'clock "  was  rung  for 
some  time  thereafter. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  association  held  in  May,  1829, 
the  committee  of  arrangements  for  the  approaching 
festival  on  the  Eourth  of  July  was  requested  not  to 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  211 

provide  ardent  spirits.  That,  also,  was  a  great  step  in 
advance,  and  from  that  day  to  this,  as  I  have  been 
informed,  and  believe,  no  liquors  have  appeared  on 
any  festive  occasion  under  the  control  of  that  society. 
I  was  invited  by  the  committee  to  deliver  the  address. 
Accepting  the  invitation,  I  dwelt  at  length  upon  the 
subject  of  temperance.  By  vote  of  the  association  the 
address  was  subsequently  published.  As  it  was  the 
first  of  my  expressions  upon  temperance  to  find  way 
into  print,  of  which  I  have  knowledge,  I  venture  to 
insert  an  extract  here: 

'*  The  influence  which  the  Mechanics'  Associations  can 
exert  in  the  promotion  of  temperance  is  greater  than  that 
which  any  other  societies  possess  ;  because,  if  we  look  abroad 
through  our  whole  country,  we  shall  see  that  though  this  vice 
has  not  confined  its  ruinous  effects  to  any  particular  ])ody  of 
men,  yet  our  mechanics,  our  yeomanry,  and  all  the  laboring 

classes  of  the  community,  are  the  principal  sufferers 

Why  does  not  our  blood  chill  when  we  look  upon  scenes  of 
misery  and  sufiering  and  wretchedness  which  exist  everywhere 
around  us  ?" 

Temperance  meetings  of  one  kind  or  another  were 
now  frequently  held  in  Portland  and  vicinity.  They 
were  not  largely  attended,  nor  did  they  attract  much 
attention.  A  few  interested  themselves  in  maintain- 
ing them  and  in  increasing  the  attendance.  They 
were  held  in  various  places  according  to  circum- 
stances, sometimes  in  private  houses,  sometimes  in  a 
church,  a  shop,  or  some  small  hall.  I  was  a  frequent 
speaker  at  these,  and,  as  opportunities  for  usefulness 
to  the  cause  offered,  my  interest  in  the  subject 
increased. 

On  Sunday  evening,  the  31st  of  March,  1833,  a 
meeting  of  young  men  of  Portland  was  held  at  the 
Park  Street  church,  then  known  as  the  Second  Metho- 


212  KEMINISCENCES 

dist  meeting-liouse,  afterwards  tlie  Second  Unitarian^ 
and  now  the  Presbyterian,  cliurcli.  An  address  was 
delivered  by  the  pastor,  Rev.  Gershom  F.  Cox.  At 
tlie  conclusion  of  liis  remarks  ' '  The  Portland  Young 
Men's  Temperance  Society"  was  organized.  The 
reason  for  this  action  was  set  out  in  the  preamble  of 
the  constitution  as  follows: 

"  As  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  is  not  only  unnecessary  but 
injurious,  as  it  tends  to  produce  pauperism,  crime  and 
wretchedness,  and  to  hinder  the  efficacy  of  all  means  for  the 
intellectual  and  moral  benetit  of  society,  also  to  endanger 
the  purity  and  permanence  of  our  free  institutions,  and  as  one 
of  the  best  means  of  counteracting  its  deleterious  effects  is 
the  influence  of  united  example,  therefore,  we,  recognizing 
the  principle  of  total  abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits 
and  from  the  traffic  in  it  as  the  basis  of  our  union,  do  hereby 
agree  to  form  ourselves  into  a  society." 

A  few  connected  with  the  society  at  its  inception, 
including  myself,  were  willing  to  have  the  pledge 
include  total  abstinence  from  the  milder  forms  of 
intoxicants  as  well  as  from  ardent  spirits,  but  the 
majority  were  not  ready  for  that.  An  article  of  the 
constitution  read  as  follows: 

"  The  object  of  this  society  shall  be  by  example  and  kind 
moral  influence  to  discountenance  the  use  of  ardent  spirits 
and  the  traffic  in  it  throughout  the  community." 

It  was  also  provided  that  any  person  might  become 
a  member  of  the  society  by  signing  the  constitution, 
and  three  hundred  and  fourteen  signatures  were 
obtained  that  evening.  During  the  next  two  or  three 
years  of  the  life  of  the  society  over  thirteen  hundred 
signed,  perhaps  the  most  widely  known  among  them 
all  being  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  who,  during  a^ 
portion  of  the  life  of  the  society,  was  a  professor  in 
Bowdoin  college. 


Rev.  IcuAiiuij  Niciiui.s,   1).   D. 


OF    NEAL   DOW.  213 

Rev.  Grersliom  F.  Cox  was  cliosen  president,  and  Dr. 
C.  H.  P.  McLellan,  secretary.  Among  the  vice-presi- 
dents were  Dr.  Eliplialet  Clark,  James  B.  Calioon, 
William  W.  Thomas  and  Phineas  Barnes.  An  execu- 
tive committee  was  also  appointed,  the  members  of 
which,  with  the  officers,  were  selected  with  reference 
to  securing  representatives  from  every  religious  society 
and  each  ward  in  the  city.  Two  weeks  later,  it  was 
voted  that  the  society  should  meet  once  in  two  weeks 
until  it  had  visited  every  religious  society  in  the  city 
that  was  willing  to  accommodate  it. 

The  next  meeting  was  held  at  the  First  Parish 
church.  Among  the  speakers  was  Rev.  Dr.  Nichols, 
whose  connection  with  the  first  temperance  society 
has  been  referred  to.  His  address  was  subsequently 
published  at  the  request  of  the  society.  Though 
intended  for  a  generation  that  has  now  almost  wholly 
passed  off  the  stage  of  this  world's  life,  it  may  well  be 
heeded  by  old  and  young  to-day.     He  said: 

"  The  principle  is  well  established  by  repeated  experiments, 
that  no  evil  results  from  the  most  sudden  and  unqualified 
abstinence.  The  benefit  is  immediate,  the  dano;er  nothing. 
To  your  patronage  in  this  object,  young  gentlemen,  we  look 
with  peculiar  interest.  Long,  long,  may  your  services  be 
felt  in  the  improved  condition  of  your  country.  May  many 
chains  of  intemperance  be  broken  by  your  means  and  many 
more  be  prevented  from  being  forged.  May  numerous 
friends  owe  to  you  the  restoration  and  the  security  of  their 
peace,  and  in  that  solemn  day,  when  to  have  been  the  cause  of 
others'  ruin  shall  be  unutterable  woe,  may  you  receive  the 
reward  of  those  who  have  saved  many  from  destruction." 

A  month  later,  the  secretary  having  resigned, 
Phineas  Barnes  was  chosen  to  that  position,  and  in 
October  of  the  same  year,  having  left  the  city,  he 
resigned,  and  I  was  chosen.  At  the  same  meeting  it 
was  resolved : 


214  REMINISCENCES 

"  That  it  be  the  sense  of  this  society,  in  view  of  the  evils 
known  to  result  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  that  the 
traffic  in  that  article  is  a  moral  wrong  for  which  there  can  be 
no  sufficient  palliation." 

In  the  late  fall  of  1833,  a  call  was  issued  for  a  state 
convention,  to  be  held  in  February,  1834,  to  be  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  the  various  local  temperance 
societies,  of  whatever  name  and  of  whatever  form  of 
pledge.  This  was  the  first  state  gathering  in  behalf 
of  temperance  ever  held  in  Maine.  The  Young  Men's 
society  at  its  meeting  in  January,  1834,  selected 
delegates  to  that  convention.  William  W.  Thomas 
and  I  were  among  the  number. 

At  a  meeting  held  April  8,  1834,  Gen.  James  Apple- 
ton  offered  the  following  resolution: 

"  That  the  license  laws  of  this  state  are  a  great  obstacle  to 
the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  temperance." 

And  the  record  in  my  writing  adds,  ' '  which  he 
advocated  powerfully  and  eloquently."  Further  con- 
sideration of  the  subject  was  postponed  to  the  next 
meeting,  when  Mr.  Appleton  again  urged  its  adop- 
tion, and  ex-United  States  Senator  John  Holmes, 
took  the  opposite  side.  I  have  no  recollection  of  any 
earlier  discussion  of  that  topic  in  Portland. 

The  only  person  participating  in  the  organization  of 
that  society  except  myself  whom  I  know  to  be  now 
living  is  Hon.  William  W.  Thomas.*  He  was  also, 
for  a  time,  I  believe,  the  secretary  of  the  association 
—  I  think  the  last  one.  From  that  day  the  great 
weight  of  his  influence  and  example  has  been  given 
to  the  promotion  of  temperance.     He  is  a  few  months 

*  Mr.  Thomas  died  in  November,  189G,  when  a  few  months  over 
ninety-three  years  of  age.  It  was  evident  that  General  Dow  felt  the 
loss  of  his  old  friend  keenly,  his  own  rapid  decline  commencing  about 
two  months  later. 


OF   NEAL   DOW. 


215 


my  senior,  and  now  looks  back  upon  a  life  constantly 
useful  and  influential  for  good  in  the  community 
where  he  has  so  long  lived.  He  has  held  many  public 
positions,  and  has  always  had  the  esteem  and  good 
will  of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  was  an  alderman  of 
Portland  at  one  of  the  most  critical  periods  in  the 
history  of  Prohibition,  proving  himself  the  possessor 
of  moral  and  physical  courage  equal  to  the  most 
trying  emergencies.  As  a  member  of  the  state  sen- 
ate, and  chairman  of  its  temperance  committee,  he 
reported,  in  1858,  the  prohibitory  law,  afterwards 
approved  by  the  people,  the  foundation  of  the  present 
prohibitory  legislation  in  this  state.  Ketiring  from 
the  senate,  he  served  two  years  as  mayor,  exhibiting 
the  sterling  qualities  characteristic  of  his  entire  life. 

By  this  time,  almost  unconsciously,  I  had  become 
so  fully  identified  with  the  reform  as  to  be  in  the  way 
of  knowing  about  most  of  what  was  being  done  if 
not  actually  taking  part  in  it.  To  the  best  of  my 
recollection,  however,  my  purpose  at  that  time  did 
not  extend  beyond  my  desire  to  assist  in  correcting 
evils  apparent  in  the  city  of  Portland.  In  such 
speaking  as  had  thus  far  devolved  upon  me  I  found 
that  illustrations,  drawn  from  local  incidents,  famil- 
iar to  our  people,  of  the  results  of  intemperance,  were 
generally  interesting  to  my  hearers,  and,  as  I  hoped, 
effective  for  good,  and  this  incited  me  to  obtain  spe- 
cial information  of  as  many  of  them  as  possible. 
With  this  in  view,  some  time  in  the  early  thirties, 
just  after  the  incorporation  of  Portland  as  a  city,  I 
secured  an  official  position,  the  duties  of  which 
required  me  to  visit  every  family  in  the  ward  in 
which  I  lived,  two  or  three  times  a  year.  This  not 
only  enabled  me  to  see  for  myself  much  that  I  could 


216  KEMINISCENCES 

make  serviceable  in  temperance  work,  but  gave  me  a 
personal  acquaintance  which  I  was  able  to  use  to 
advantage  in  the  same  direction. 

The  law  provided  that  license  fees  should  be  used 
for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  towns.  I  served  for 
years  as  an  overseer  of  the  poor  of  the  city  that  I 
might  speak  with  knowledge  upon  the  point  that  the 
money  thus  obtained  was  absurdly  inadequate  to 
reimburse  the  expense  that  intemperance,  fostered 
in  these  licensed  places,  imposed  upon  the  city. 

What  I  learned  in  those  positions  enabled  me  to 
speak  more  effectively  at  temperance  meetings,  and 
also  impressed  me  deeply  with  the  importance  of  the 
temperance  reformation  as  an  agency  for  the  pros- 
perity of  the  city  and  the  welfare  of  its  inhabitants. 
I  was  not,  consciously,  at  least,  devoting  more  time 
and  attention  to  the  reform  than  seemed  to  me  to  be 
demanded  of  any  good  citizen  aware  of  the  prevalence 
of  intemperate  habits,  and  their  baneful  influence. 

It  was  in  1835  that  it  first  occurred  to  me  that  any 
special  duty  might  be  required  of  me  in  that  line. 
The  incident  out  of  which  that  idea  grew  is  fresh 
in  my  mind,  though  I  am  only  able  to  fix  its  date 
through  a  letter,  to  my  wife.  That  letter,  written  in 
Bangor,  where  I  had  gone  on  business  in  connection 
with  some  timber-lands,  was  dated  May  14,  1835.  I 
quote  from  it  a  few  words  relating  to  a  conversation 
having  an  influence  upon  my  whole  after  life : 

"We  had  an  interesting  company  in  the  stage  (from 
Augusta  to  Bangor),  much  temperance  talk,  and  I  trust 
with  good  effect  ujjon  a  farmer  from  New  Hampshire,  a  very 
sensil)le  old  man,  the  father  of  Cooley,  the  lawyer,  who  said 
I  ought  to  leave  off*  exploring  land  and  become  a  temperance 
lecturer,  for  I  should  do  a  great  deal  of  good.  Think  of 
that !  " 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  217 

From  that  time  the  subject  impressed  itself  upon 
my  mind  more  and  more  as  one  involving  something 
beyond  the  reformation  of  the  victims  of  intemper- 
ance. It  widened  in  my  thought  into  one  for  the 
prevention  of  the  evil,  and  for  the  relief  of  society 
from  the  burdens  resulting  from  that  vice.  The  idea 
of  prohibition  was  not  then  unfamiliar  to  me,  as  will 
be  shown  later,  but  I  had  not  become  specially 
devoted  to  it.  I  now  began  to  look  upon  the  liquor 
shop  as  a  potential  agency  for  the  propagation  of 
intemperance  and  its  vast  train  of  following  wrong, 
and  as  a  great  obstruction  to  the  material,  moral  and 
religious  progress  of  the  people. 

About  this  time,  however,  an  experience  convinced 
me  that,  while  special  influences  for  the  promotion  of 
temperance  and  sobriety  were  dependent  altogether 
upon  the  voluntary  contribution  of  time,  strength  and 
money  of  those  who  conceived  it  to  be  their  duty  to 
God  and  man  to  aid  in  the  work,  the  hope  of  gain  from 
his  trade  made  the  dealer  in  intoxicants  in  effect  a 
paid  agent,  whose  constant  occupation  it  was  to  neu- 
tralize those  efforts  for  good.  The  contest,  therefore, 
between  the  two  seemed  an  unequal  one,  like  that 
between  the  unpaid,  unarmed,  undisciplined  farmers 
at  Lexington  and  the  veterans  of  King  George.  The 
parallel  might,  it  seemed  to  me,  be  carried  further. 
The  vendor  of  intoxicants,  with  his  license,  might 
fairly  claim  to  represent  the  state,  as  did  the  British 
redcoats  under  Pitcairn,  while  the  friends  of  temper- 
ance, like  the  farmer  victims  of  that  first  encounter  of 
the  Revolution,  were,  in  effect,  engaged  in  interfering 
with  the  operations  of  the  law  of  the  land. 

A    citizen    of    Portland    with    whom    I    was    well 
acquainted,   a  man   of    more    than    ordinary    native 


218  KEMINISCENCES 

ability,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  college,  influentially 
connected  in  our  community,  liad  become  intem- 
perate, thus  greatly  impairing  his  usefulness.  My 
attention  was  specially  called  to  his  case  through  the 
appeal  of  his  wife  to  me  for  counsel  and  assistance. 
The  man  had  made  several  efforts  to  reform,  but  had 
repeatedly  relapsed.  During  one  of  these  periods  of 
sobriety  I  had  assisted  him  to  secure  an  official  posi- 
tion, for  which,  aside  from  his  former  intemperate 
habits,  he  was  admirably  qualified. 

Whether  he  could  retain  that  place  depended  alto- 
gether upon  his  ability  to  refrain  from  drink.  There 
was  in  the  vicinity  of  the  office  where  he  was  employed 
a  most  "respectable"  shop  where  liquor  was  sold. 
My  friend's  pride  yet  kept  him  from  the  lower  dens, 
and  I  believed  that  the  refusal  of  the  keeper  of  that 
resort  to  sell  him  liquor,  should  he  apply  for  it,  would 
help  him  in  an  effort  to  abstinence,  and  perhaps  save 
him  from  the  ruin  certain  to  overwhelm  him  if  he 
returned  to  drink. 

Accordingly  I  called  on  the  proprietor  of  that  shop, 

stated  the  case  with  all  the  peculiar  circumstances 

attending  it,  and  my  hopes  and  fears  connected  with 

it.      He  listened  to  me  attentively  and  respectfully, 

manifesting  a  degree  of  interest  which  encouraged  mo 

to  believe  that-  he  would  heed  my  request  and  refuse 

to  sell  liquor  in  that  particular  case,  should  it  be 

called  for.     But,  after  I  had  concluded,  he  said  to  me 

in  substance: 

"  Mr.  Dow,  you  attend  to  your  business,  and  I  will  look 
after  mine.  I  am  licensed  to  sell  liquor,  have  paid  my  money 
for  the  privilege.  That  money  helps  to  pay  your  taxes,  and 
it  is  a  small  business  for  you  to  try  to  prevent  me  from  obtain- 
ing the  business  I  have  a  right  to  under  "the  law.  If  that  man 
comes  in  here  in  a  sober  condition  and  asks  for  liquor,  1  have 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  219 

a  legal  right  to  sell  it  to  him,  and  I  shall  do  so,  and  I  do  not 
want  you  around  here  whining  about  it." 

Surprised,  disappointed,  indignant,  I  replied  to  the 
effect  that  sooner  or  later  I  would  see  that  he  and  all 
like  him  were  driven  from  the  community  unless  they 
abandoned  their  infamous  business.  Afterwards, 
thinking  it  possible  that  some  lack  of  tact  on  my 
part,  or  my  well  known  activity  in  connection  with 
the  temperance  movement  might  have  led  the  man  to 
reply  as  he  did,  I  advised  the  poor  wife  to  call  and  in 
her  own  way  prefer  the  request,  thinking  it  improb- 
able that  he  would  be  deaf  to  entreaties  urged  upon 
him  with  the  eloquence  born  of  her  recollection  of 
past  sufferings  and  her  fear  of  future  wrongs.  A  few 
days  later  she  came  to  me,  and  with  tears  in  her  eyes 
told  me  that  she  had  been  no  more  successful  than  I 
in  the  attempt  to  erect  that  feeble  barrier  to  protect 
herself  and  family  from  the  danger  of  the  intemper- 
ance of  her  husband. 

Her  story  strengthened  the  feeling  with  which  my 
interview  with  the  liquor-seller  in  question  was 
closed.  The  reply  that  I  had  made  to  him,  however, 
was  more  than  the  ebullition  of  temporary  feeling 
then  excited.  I  had  been  prepared  to  take  the  stand  I 
threatened  by  my  already  matured  belief  that  the 
liquor-traffic  was  the  source  of  infinite  evils,  and  that 
there  was  no  other  field  where  work  was  demanded 
for  human  progress  in  which  laborers  were  so  few  or 
so  much  needed.  That  incident  affected  me  with 
vital  force.  As  I  reflected  upon  it  as  only  one  of 
the  thousands  of  cases  into  which  it  mJght  be  indefi- 
nitely multiplied  with  a  product  of  immeasurable 
misery  to  so  many  helpless  women  and  innocent 
children,  I  became  more  strongly  convinced  that  my 


220  REMINISCENCES    OF    NEAL    DOW. 

duty  was  clear.  I  resolved  to  try  to  discharge  it. 
From  that  day  I  have  followed  it  with  such  strength 
of  body,  mind  and  purpose  as  Grod  has  given  to  me. 

Many  times,  prompted  thereto  by  the  seeming  indif- 
ference and  sometimes  strenuous  opposition  of  those 
whom  I  knew  to  be  good  citizens,  and  whom  I  believed 
desired  to  be  consistent  Christians,  I  have  considered 
anew  that  decision,  and  have  asked  myself  if  the  ob- 
ject sought  was  worthy  the  sacrifices  it  necessitated. 
But  such  reconsiderations  have  served  to  confirm  me, 
if  possible,  more  strongly  than  before  in  the  belief  that 
nothing  is  more  productive  of  wretchedness  for  the 
individual,  or  more  obstructive  to  the  general  progress 
and  prosperity  of  the  state,  than  the  trafiic  in  intoxi- 
cating drinks,  and  never,  from  the  day  of  my  early  de- 
termination, have  I  doubted  that  duty  demanded  of 
me  unrelenting  and  uncompromising  opposition  to 
that  trade. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


LIQUOR     LEGISLATIOISr     OF     MAINE     FROM     1820    TO    THE    SUG- 
GESTION  OF   A   PROHIBITORY    LAW.        THE   MAINE   STATE 
TEMPERANCE   SOCIETY.         ORGANIZATION   OF    MAINE 
TEMPERANCE    UNION,       PROGRESS  TOWARD  PRO- 
HIBITION.      GENERAL   APPLETON's   REPORT 
RECOMMENDING   THAT   POLICY. 


Maine  inherited,  at  the  time  of  her  admission  to  the 
Union,  tlie  laws  of  Massachusetts,  and  her  first  legis- 
lation in  no  way  modified  those  relating  to  the  liquor- 
traffic.  The  first  law  of  her  own  adoption  bearing 
upon  the  subject  was  approved  March  20,  1821.  That 
was  a  license  law,  and,  except  in  the  matter  of  fees, 
and  penalties  for  its  violation,  had  all  the  provisions 
found  in  the  most  approved  license  laws  of  these  latter 
days.  But  severe  penalties  for  violation  of  such  stat- 
utes are  not  of  modern  invention.  At  the  time  of 
the  first  liquor  legislation  by  the  mother  state  in  our 
colonial  days,  the  law-givers  provided  whipping  for 
those  selling  "strong  water  "  without  a  license. 

The  new  law  was  similar  to  the  existing  statute  of 
Massachusetts.  It  provided  that  the  licensing  board 
of  the  several  towns  might  license  as  many  persons  of 
"sober  life  and  conversation, "  and  suitably  qualified 
for  the  employment,  as  they  deemed  necessary.     The 


222  REMINISCENCES 

license  fee  was  six  dollars.  Any  one  presuming  to  be 
a  common  seller  without  a  license  was  liable  to  a 
penalty  of  fifty  dollars,  and  any  person  at  any  time 
selling  without  such  license  should  forfeit  for  each 
offense  len  dollars. 

Some  of  the  provisions  of  that  law  shoAv  that  the 
tendency  of  the  traffic  to  gather  about  it  other  evils 
was  even  then  well  understood.  Gambling  on  the 
licensed  premises  was  prohibited,  and  all  games  and 
other  employments  used  in  gambling  were  also  pro- 
scribed. Excessive  drinking  was  not  to  be  allowed. 
Minors,  travelers  excepted,  were  not  to  be  furnished 
with  drink  without  the  special  permission  of  parents. 
' '  Names  of  persons  reputed  common  drunkards  or 
common  tipplers  "  were  to  be  posted  by  selectmen  in 
all  licensed  places,  and  liquors  were  not  to  be  fur- 
nished to  such.  Selectmen  could  also  prohibit  the 
sale  for  the  space  of  one  year  to  any  person  who 
should  by  idleness  or  excessive  drinking  of  spirituous 
liquors  so  misspend,  waste  or  lessen  his  estate  as  to 
expose  himself  or  family  to  want,  or  to  indulge  in 
liquor  "so  as  to  endanger  his  life, "  and  all  persons 
were  prohibited  from  obtaining  for  and  furnishing  to 
any  such  any  spirituous  or  strong  liquors. 

In  a  moiety  feature  of  the  law  an  attempt  was  made 
to  hire  as  many  as  possible  to  assist  in  enforcing  it. 
Thus  county-attorneys  were  especially  enjoined  to 
"file  information  against"  persons  selling  without  a 
license,  and  all  fines  not  exceeding  twenty  dollars 
were  appropriated,  one  moiety  to  the  use  of  the  person 
who  should  sue  therefor. 

There  was  also  a  provision  prohibiting  parties, 
licensed  to  sell  liquor,  from  giving  credit  to  under- 
graduates of  colleges  without  consent  of  the  college 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  22S 

authorities,  and  the  party  so  violating  this  provision, 
in  addition  to  his  penalty,  could  not  be  re-licensed 
within  a  year  of  such  violation.  It  was  provided  that, 
"all  moneys  accruing  for  licenses  granted  to  retailers, 
inn-holders  and  victualers  "  were  to  be  applied  for  the 
benefit  of  the  poor  —  certainly  a  suitable  companion 
for  a  license  law. 

Apparently  some  of  the  gentlemen  of  "sober  life 
and  conversation  "  who  had  obtained  licenses  under- 
took to  cheat  the  state,  and  for  one  contribution  to 
the  pauper  fund  set  up  more  than  one  pauper  manufac- 
tory; for,  in  1824,  the  sale  of  liquor  was  prohibited  at 
more  than  one  place  under  the  same  license.  It  seems, 
too,  that  selectmen  had  found  it  burdensome  to  keep 
the  run  of  all  those  using  liquor  to  excess,  for  the 
new  law  required  "sheriffs,  deputy-sheriffs,  constables 
and  tithing-men  "  to  furnish  information  to  selectmen 
of  all  suffering  from  the  excessive  use  of  liquors,  so 
that  the  selectmen  might  better  carry  out  the  pro- 
visions of  the  law  prohibiting  the  sale  to  such  persons. 
It  was  also  provided  that  no  licensee  violating 
any  restriction  of  the  law  should  have  his  license 
renewed  for  the  term  of  two  years.  Evidently  a  con- 
nection with  the  traffic  was  having  a  demoralizing 
effect  upon  the  men  of  "sober  life  and  conversation" 
who  had  procured  licenses. 

One  provision,  of  interest  not  only  because  of  its 
peculiar  character  but  for  the  testimony  afforded  by  it 
to  the  extent  of  intemperance  in  the  state  at  that  time 
and  to  the  conviction  existing  that  something  should 
be  done  to  correct  it,  was  as  follows: 

"  And  it  is  hereby  enjoined  on  all  good  citizens  of  this 
state  to  give  such  information"  (i.  e.,  of  persons  using  liquor 
to  excess,  etc.,)    "to  the    selectmen   and   assessors  of  their 


224  REMINISCENCES 

respective  towns  and  plantations  for  the  purpose  aforesaid," 
i.e.,  that  liquor-sellers  (who  knew  better  than  any  one  else, 
who  those  were)  might  be  notified  not  to  sell  to  them. 

Now  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  those  days 
no  law  had  driven  the  trade  into  the  hands  of  the 
"lowest  and  most  disreputable"  people,  as  is  urged 
to-day  in  their  arguments  against  Prohibition  by 
those  in  favor  of  license.  Only  people  of  "sober 
life  and  conversation,  and  suitably  qualified,"  were 
licensed;  yet  such  was  the  effect  of  the  trade  in  their 
hands  in  Maine  in  those  days  that  the  law  enjoined 
upon  all  good  citizens  to  act  as  a  sort  of  moral  2'>o^^e- 
comitatus,  to  lessen  as  much  as  possible  the  evil.  How 
demoralizing  the  trade  upon  all  having  to  do  with  it! 

Election  days  were  occasions  of  great  drunkenness 
and  disturbance.  In  1826  a  law  was  passed  called 
"An  Act  to  Prevent  Intemperance  at  Elections."  It 
provided  for  the  seizure  of  liquors  exposed  for  sale 
within  a  hundred  rods  of  any  place  where  an  election 
was  being  held,  and  also  of  any  carriage,  tent,  booth 
or  vessels  in  wtich  such  liquors  were  exposed  for  sale 
"to  be  detained  until  twenty-four  hours  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  election."  At  the  expiration  of 
that  time  they  were  to  be  delivered  on  demand  to  the 
owner  or  the  person  from  whom  they  were  taken, 
after  payment  of  three  dollars  for  safe-keeping.  If 
not  demanded,  they  were  to  be  sold  at  public  auction 
for  benefit  of  owners,  etc. 

But  there  was  a  i)rovision  shoAving  the  tender  feel- 
ing entertained  for  the  traffic,  and  the  belief  that 
licensed  places  were,  in  a  measure,  sacred  soil,  upon 
which  the  state  could  not  trench  to  protect  itself  even 
on  its  recurring  annual  accouchements  of  authority 
and  power.     It  was  that  the  act  "should  not  be  con- 


OF   KEAL    DOW.  225 

strued  so  as  to  prohibit  licensed  parties  from  the 
pursuit  of  their  ordinary  business  in  their  usual 
places  of  prosecuting  the  same."  If  people  would 
get  intoxicated  about  the  polls  it  was  entirely  con- 
sistent with  the  theory  on  which  they  had  been 
authorized  to  sell  liquor,  that  the  licensed  dealers 
should  have  the  exclusive  privilege  of  reaping  the 
"  profit "  of  making  them  so. 

In  1829  the  law  was  further  amended  so  as  to 
prohibit  licensed  persons  from  selling  to  non-com- 
missioned officers  or  soldiers  of  the  United  States 
within  five  miles  of  any  military  post,  or  when  such 
non-commissioned  officers  or  soldiers  were  on  duty 
outside  of  the  five  mile  limit,  unless  such  soldier 
could  present  a  permit  from  his  commanding  officer 
for  such  sale.  It  would  seem  that  through  sales  to 
soldiers  some  special  damage  to  the  community  was 
experienced,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  the  men  of 
"sober  life  and  conversation, "  refrained  from  selling 
to  them. 

In  this  year,  1829,  also,  a  local-option  law  was 
enacted  and  a  law  passed  amending  that  of  1821,  so 
that  "no  license  granted  as  aforesaid  shall  authorize 
the  sale  of  wine,  spirituous  or  mixed  liquors,  part  of 
which  is  spirituous,  to  be  drunk  in  the  store  or  shop 
of  any  victualer  or  retailer,"  though  taverners  were 
still  allowed  to  sell  liquors  to  be  drunk  on  the 
premises.  A  provision  was  incorporated  that  any 
town  might  at  its  annual  meeting,  by  a  vote  of  the 
majority  of  its  legal  voters,  authorize  the  licensing 
board  to  grant  licenses  to  sell  to  be  drunk  in  the  store 
or  shop  of  such  persons  under  such  regulations  as 
might  be  prescribed  by  the  selectmen,  and  that  such 
license  should    be    revokable    by    the    selectmen  on 


226  KEMINISCENCES 

complaint  and  hearing  thereon.  It  further  provided 
that  the  selectmen,  at  the  time  of  granting  such 
license,  should  deliver  to  each  person  by  them 
licensed  the  name  of  any  one  "known  to  them  to  be 
addicted  to  the  intemperate  use  of  strong  liquors," 
and  licensees  were  prohibited  from  selling  thereto. 

It  was  also  made  the  duty  of  the  licensing  board  to 
revoke  the  license  in  every  instance  which  should 
come  to  their  knowledge  of  a  violation  of  any  of  the 
provisions  of  the  act  under  complaint  made  and  hear- 
ing thereon.  Licensed  parties  were  also  required  to 
keep  copies  of  the  act  posted  in  a  public  and  con- 
spicuous place  in  their  shops.  The  penalties  under 
this  new  law  were  also  to  be  appropriated  as  under  the 
former  —  one  half  to  the  complainant. 

By  an  act  approved  March  18,  1830,  distinction  was 
made  in  the  cost  of  license  to  those  who  were  author- 
ized to  sell  to  be  drunk  on  the  premises  and  to  those 
who  were  not,  the  former  remaining  at  six  dollars  and 
the  latter  placed  at  three.  The  fees  were  not  large. 
Licenses  were  presumed  to  be  issued  only  to  those  of 
"sober  life  and  conversation,"  and  the  restrictions 
were  such  that,  if  any  regulations  would  regulate, 
whatever  good  the  community  could  get  from  the 
traffic  might  be  enjoyed  without  its  evils.  So  evi- 
dently believed  the  legislators  of  1829-30. 

It  is  suggestive  that  the  town-clerk,  under  all  these 
laws  a  member  of  the  licensing  board,  was  to  receive 
for  his  own  use  twenty-five  cents  on  every  license 
granted  —  nothing  on  any  refused  —  and  in  more  than 
one  instance,  when  the  licensing  board  divided  upon 
the  expediency  of  granting  licenses  in  general  or  to 
any  one  in  particular,  the  vote  of  the  clerk  was 
recorded  in  favor  of  granting. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  227 

By  the  same  act  licensees  were  prohibited  from 
furnishing  liquor  to  any  Indian  except  "for  the  use 
of  the  sick,"  under  the  direction  of  a  regular,  practic- 
ing physician.  The  act  also  repealed  the  existing 
prohibition  of  the  sale  by  retail  without  license  of 
beer,  ale  and  cider. 

In  1832,  the  law  of  1824,  which  imposed  certain 
duties  upon  sheriffs  and  other  officers,  to  secure  the 
better  enforcement  of  the  license  law,  and  called 
upon  all  good  citizens,  also,  as  we  have  seen,  to  assist 
in  the  same,  with  other  provisions  inimical  to  the 
liquor-selling  interest,  was  repealed. 

Again,  in-  1833,  it  was  distinctly  made  the  duty  of 
municipal  officers  "in  their  warrants  for  convening 
the  inhabitants  of  their  respective  towns,  plantations 
and  cities,  at  their  annual  meetings  in  March  or 
April,  to  insert  an  article  "  to  see  if  they  would  be 
authorized  to  grant  licenses  to  sell  to  be  drunk  on  the 
premises.  This  was  a  provision  intended  to  relieve 
the  liquor-sellers  of  the  difficulty  which  they 
encountered  through  the  refusal  of  selectmen  of  some 
of  the  towns,  in  deference  to  the  growing  hostility  to 
the  traffic,  to  so  prepare  the  warrants  that  a  popular 
vote  might  be  had  upon  the  question  as  to  whether 
licenses  should  be  granted  in  their  communities. 
The  liquor  men  clearly  understood  that  in  every  such 
contest  they  would  have  the  advantage  —  through 
their  special  interest  in  its  issue  —  over  the  rest  of  the 
community. 

It  provided  for  an  appeal  of  any  person  aggrieved 
by  the  refusal  to  grant  such  person  a  license,  or  by 
the  revoking  of  a  license  already  granted,  from  the 
municipal  licensing  board,  taking  the  action  com- 
plained against,  to  the  county  commissioners,  and  if 


228  REMINISCENCES 

such  license  was  granted  by  the  county  commissioners 
the  license  fee  was  to  be  paid  for  the  benefit  of  the 
county.  This  provision  created  a  species  of  rivalry  be- 
tween the  town  and  county  financial  agents,  through 
which  almost  any  applicant,  whether  or  not  of  ' '  sober 
life  and  conversation,"  was  quite  sure  to  obtain  a 
license  from  one  party  or  the  other. 

In  1834,  after  twelve  years  of  unsatisfactory  experi- 
ence, the  legislature  repealed  the  former  legislation 
upon  the  subject,  and  the  law  substituted  estab- 
lished a  license  fee  of  one  dollar,  to  be  paid  to  the 
selectmen,  treasurer  and  town-clerk  of  towns,  or  to 
the  assessors  and  clerk  of  plantations,  or  to  the  alder- 
men and  city-clerk  in  cities,  as  the  case  might  be. 
There  was  no  restriction  upon  the  sale  of  cider,  ale, 
beer,  etc.  The  licensees  were  to  give  a  bond  in  the 
sum  of  three  hundred  dollars  to  observe  the  require- 
ments of  the  law. 

No  person  was  to  be  allowed  to  drink  to  drunken- 
ness or  excess  in  any  licensed  shop,  nor  was  liquor  to 
be  sold  to  any  minor  or  servant,  under  pain  of 
incurring  the  forfeiture  of  the  bond.  Notices  were  to 
be  given,  as  under  former  laws,  of  persons  who  were 
addicted  to  the  use  of  strong  liquors,  and  licensed 
persons  who  sold  to  such  were  to  forfeit  the  penalties 
of  the  bond.  It  was  made  the  duty  of  the  municipal 
officers  to  revoke  and  make  void  the  license  of  any 
person  violating  the  provisions  of  the  act,  and  to 
cause  the  bond  to  be  prosecuted  after  complaint  and 
hearing  thereon,  and  ' '  any  fine,  forfeiture  or  penalty 
not  exceeding  twenty  dollars  "  was  appropriated  ' '  one 
moiety  thereof  to  the  use  of  the  person  who  may  sue 
therefor,"  and  the  fine  for  selling  without  a  license 
was  ' '  not  less  than  thirty  nor  more  than  three  hun- 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  229 

dred  dollars."  Now  came  evidence  of  collusion 
between  the  prosecuting  officers  and  those  who 
violated  the  law,  and  in  1835  it  was  enacted  that  no 
prosecuting  officer  should  discontinue  any  legal 
process  commenced  or  to  be  commenced  unless  by 
direction  of  the  court. 

It  is  now  to  be  remembered  that  at  the  inception  of 
the  temperance  movement  in  Maine,  and  for  many 
years  thereafter,  the  sale  of  liquor  was  considered  as 
respectable  as  any  other  branch  of  business.  Men 
engaged  in  the  liquor  trade  with  clear  consciences 
and  general  approbation,  for  the  doctrine  that  rum- 
selling  was  a  vocation  inconsistent  with  good  citi- 
zenship, as  inimical  to  the  general  good,  had  not  then 
to  any  extent  been  preached.  They  had  not  consid- 
ered the  incalculable  evils  inflicted  upon  society  by 
their  trade.  They  did  not  understand  that  their 
business  was  surely  and  not  slowly  undermining  the 
morality  and  prosperity  of  the  community  of  which 
they  were  a  part,  and  to  the  welfare  of  which  they 
believed  themselves  devoted. 

Many  of  those  engaged  in  liquor-selling  were  lead- 
ers in  their  communities.  In  business  their  capital 
was  needed  in  projected  enterprises  which  their  judg- 
ment and  experience  were  relied  upon  to  guide.  In 
politics  their  will  was  law,  and  their  favor  necessary 
to  the  ambition  of  every  aspirant  for  official  emolu- 
ment or  honor.  In  society  their  houses  were  the 
rendezvous  of  the  elite,  and  their  presence  at  social 
gatherings  was  certain  to  give  tone  and  contribute 
pleasure.  Many  of  them  were  regular  attendants 
upon  the  ordinances  of  the  church ;  some  were  fore- 
most in  good  words  and  works.  Elders,  deacons  and 
Sabbath-school  teachers  competed  with  each  other  for 

IG 


230  KEMIXISCENCES 

customers  for  liquor,  as  well  as  for  dry  goods  and 
other  family  supplies,  and  cheerfully  donated  gener- 
ously of  profits  thus  obtained  for  the  support  of  the 
Gospel  at  home  and  abroad.  Nor  was  engagement  in 
such  business  generally  deemed  inconsistent  with 
participation  in  charitable  or  religious  work. 

Such  was  the  case  even  to  my  day,  and  for  some 
time  after  I  had  been  actively  engaged  in  labors  for 
the  temperance  reformation,  and  I  earnestly  devoted 
much  time  to  exposing  the  inconsistency  of  it.  In 
that  particular  phase  of  the  work  I  severely  criticised 
some  men  who,  though  active  in  church  work,  con- 
tinued in  the  business  of  selling  liquor.  There  were 
those  who  did  not  think  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  do 
so.  Such  did  not  understand  that  so  long  as  men 
reputed  by  their  fellows  to  be  good  engage  in  repre- 
hensible practices,  so  long  they  are  maintaining  an 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  the  creation  of  a  healthy 
public  sentiment  upon  which  reforms  may  be  based 
and  from  which  progress  will  date.  Denouncing  bad 
men  for  bad  practices  may  have  little  influence  for 
good.  The  chief  troubles  the  world  has  experienced 
have  been  from  the  bad  practices  of  those  claiming 
and  reputed  to  be  good.  That  was  recognized  eigh- 
teen centuries  ago,  when  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  the 
good,  religious  men  of  the  time,  were  denounced  as 
hypocrites  and  whited  sepulchres,  full  of  dead  men's 
bones,  by  one  who  ate  with  publicans  and  sinners. 

Only  grave  reasons  could  lead  men  to  incur  the 
odium  and  expose  themselves  to  the  personal  incon- 
veniences, discomforts,  losses  and  antagonisms  sure 
to  be  encountered  in  putting  themselves  in  opposition 
to  such  influential  citizens  as  were  interested  in  one 
way  or  another  in  the  liquor  business.     Those  reasons 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  231 

were  to  be  found  in  the  great  and  wide-spread  evils  of 
intemperance  at  that  day,  and  in  the  consciences  of 
those  who  believed  it  their  duty  to  correct  them. 

Maine  was  behind  most  of  her  sisters  in  the  organi- 
zation of  a  state  society.  This  was  due  to  several 
causes.  There  was  much  work  close  at  hand  to  be 
done  in  every  village  by  the  local  society,  if  there  was 
one,  leaving  little  of  means,  strength  or  time  for  effort 
beyond  its  immediate  vicinity.  Then  again,  the 
comparatively  sparse  population  and  poor  roads  made 
travel  inconvenient  and  burdensome  in  time  and 
money.  More  than  this  perhaps,  there  was  a  strong 
and  influential  element,  because  of  the  proportionally 
large  amount  of  capital  directly  or  indirectly  con- 
nected with  the  traffic  in  intoxicants,  that  interposed 
grave  difficulties  to  the  progress  of  the  movement. 
When  at  length  a  state  temperance  organization  was 
effected,  it  was  found  that  all  but  four  states  in  the 
Union  had  preceded  Maine  in  such  action,  Illinois 
being  the  only  other  northern  state,  while  there  were 
but  three  southern  states  that  had  not  instituted 
such  societies. 

It  was  in  February,  1834,  that  a  state  organization 
was  formed.  This  was  in  Augusta  during  the  session 
of  the  legislature.  It  existed  as  an  active  agency  for 
about  four  years.  While  it  received  the  support  and 
co-operation  of  those  who  advocated  total  abstinence, 
as  a  society  it  did  not  make  that  a  test  of  membership. 
It  did,  however,  bear  positive  testimony  against 
drunkenness  and  the  excessive  use  of  liquor,  and 
generally  its  members  avoided  altogether  the  use  of 
"distilled"  liquors.  Its  avowed  object  was:  "The 
promotion  of  sobriety  and  temperance  among  the 
people." 


232  EEMINLSCENCES 

The  work  of  this  association  was  prosecuted  with 
varying  energy.  Nevertheless,  its  influence  upon  the 
habits  of  the  people  and  the  public  opinion  of  the 
state  with  reference  to  the  temperance  question 
generally  was  marked,  not  so  much  because  of  what  it 
undertook,  but  because  in  honestly  trying  to  accom- 
plish that,  its  thoughtful  and  active  members  came 
to  see  that  their  methods  were  inadequate,  illogical, 
futile.  Filled  with  zeal  for  the  cause  they  were 
sincerely  trying  to  serve,  the  more  earnest  among  its 
numbers  passed  on  in  the  direction  indicated  by 
their  observation  and  experience  as  necessary. 

That  old  society  could  only  serve  the  end  for  which 
it  was  created  by  ceasing  to  exist.  It  sought  to 
prevent  the  "abuse"  of  intoxicants  by  advocating 
moderation  in  their  use.-  It  found  it  impossible  to 
draw  any  out  of  the  maelstrom  of  intemperance  on  to 
that  platform,  while,  of  those  it  was  unintention- 
ally, imperceptibly,  but  none  the  less  certainly, 
inviting  on  to  it  from  among  the  young  and 
inexperienced,  it  was  pushing  many  in.  Neverthe- 
less, for  a  time  it  kept  on  its  well-intentioned  course, 
its  founders  little  dreaming  and  its  active  agents 
little  realizing  that  the  more  influential  and  effective 
their  society  should  become  in  the  actual  promotion 
of  temperance  the  sooner  it  would  give  place  to  a 
more  progressive,  logical  and  consistent  successor. 

In  1837,  ex-Governor  King  was  the  president  of  this 
society.  At  its  annual  meeting,  held  in  Augusta, 
February  2d  of  that  year,  it  was  proposed  to  amend 
the  pledge  by  making  total  abstinence,  not  only  from 
"ardent  spirits"  but  from  the  milder  alcoholics,  a 
pre-requisite  for  membership.  An  animated  and 
warm  debate  followed.     Governor  King  and  others, 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  233 

all  of  them  most  respectable  and  influential  members, 
earnestly  opposed  the  proposition.  ..  They  took  the 
ground  that  there  was  a  Bible  warrant  for  the  use  of 
wine;  that  harm  was  sure  to  come  to  the  temperance 
cause  from  the  adoption  of  a  proposition  so  generally 
regarded  as  unwise  and  fanatical.  There  was  always 
danger,  they  said,  in  the  prosecution  of  any  cause, 
lest  its  zealous  and  inconsiderate  friends  should  bring 
it  into  discredit  by  proposing  extreme  measures,  sure 
to  result  in  reaction  and  the  permanent  injury  of  the 
cause. 

The  friends  of  the  proposed  new  departure  were 
voted  down,  but  by  this  time  it  had  become  a  matter 
of  principle  with  many  of  them,  and  they  withdrew 
from  the  meeting  and  from  the  society,  and,  resorting 
to  another  meeting-house,  organized  a  new  associa- 
tion, which  they  named  "The  Maine  Temperance 
Union."  The  record  of  this  first  meeting  of  the  new 
society  recites: 

"A  meeting  composed  of  delegates  to  the  Maine  Temper- 
ance Society  and  members  of  that  society  was  held  in  the 
public  meeting-house  at  Augusta,  February  2d,  1837,  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  new  state  society  upon  the  principle  of 
total  abstinence  from  all  that  intoxicates." 

Among  those  who  assisted  in  this  initial  meeting  of 
the  new  departure  were  Rev.  Dr.  Tappan,  of  Augusta; 
Samuel  M.  Pond,  of  Bucksport;  Charles  A.  Stack- 
pole,  of  Bangor;  Rev.  Thomas  Adams,  of  Waterville; 
Hon.  Samuel  Reddington,  of  Vassalboro;  Col.  John 
N.  Swasey,  of  Bucksport;  Col.  '  Henry  Little,  of 
Bangor;  William  Trafton.  of  Shapleigh;  Dr.  Isaac 
Lincoln,  of  Brunswick;  Hon.  George  Downs,  of 
Calais;  Abiier  (afterwards  Governor)  Coburn,  of 
Bloomfield;  Rev.  Philip  Munger,  of  Livermore;  Sam- 


234  KEMINISCENCES 

iiel  Fogg,  of  Weld;  Rev.  David  Thurston,  of  Win- 
throp;  Rev.  Asbury  Caldwell,  of  Augusta;  George  A. 
Tliatclier,  of  Bangor;  Richard  D.  (afterwards  Judge) 
Rice,  of  Augusta;  H.  B.  Farnum,  of  Bangor;  and 
John  F.  Potter,  of  Augusta.  Mr.  Potter,  afterwards 
a  member  of  Congress  from  Wisconsin,  became  famous 
from  his  connection  with  a  proposed  duel,  growing 
out  of  the  assault  upon  Senator  Charles  Sumner.  I 
believe  that,  except  myself,  he  is  the  only  person 
living  who  participated  in  that  meeting. 

Several  other  clergymen  were  present  whose  names 
I  cannot  now  recall.  Here  it  may  l^e  noted  that  for 
some  years  temperance  work  in  Maine  was  largely 
promoted,  if  not  altogether  managed,  by  clergymen. 
They  were  prominent  and  influential  at  meetings  and 
conventions,  and  were  active  in  arranging  and  direct- 
ing proceedings.  This  they  did  wisely  and  well, 
contributing  greatly  to  give  respectability  and  influ- 
ence to  the  whole  movement.  These  clergymen  strove 
earnestly  to  promote  the  cause  in  all  legitimate  ways. 
The  interest  taken  by  them  secured  the  co-operation 
of  large  numbers  glad  to  look  to  such  men  for  sugges- 
tion and  guidance  in  matters  relating  to  the  social  and 
moral  welfare  of  the  people. 

Besides  clergymen  there  were  many  who  were 
prominent  in  business  and  political  circles  of  the 
state,  or  who  afterwards  became  so,  who  rendered 
great  service  in  the  promotion  of  the  cause.  I  regret 
my  inability  to  name  more  than  a  few. 

Among  those  taking  a  more  or  less  active  and 
influential  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Union  at 
different  times  during  its  existence,  was  Gen.  James 
Appleton,  of  Portland.  General  Appleton  had  been 
an  officer    in  the  war    of    1812.     He  was  a  man  of 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  235 

marked  ability,  high  character  and  great  influence, 
and  was  an  eloquent  and  forcible  speaker.  A 
strong  antislavery  man,  in  1842  he  was  a  candidate 
of  the  Liberty  party  for  governor.  This  organization 
appeared  in  state  politics  for  the  first  time  in  the 
gubernatorial  canvass  of  1841.  General  Appleton  was 
its  candidate  in  the  three  following  years.  It  was 
subsequently  merged  in  the  Eepublican  party  of  the 
state. 

No  man  in  Maine  was  more  devoted  to  the  objects 
of  the  Maine  Temperance  Union,  no  man  more  influen- 
tial in  promoting  them,  than  General  Appleton.  He 
was  among  the  earliest  friends  of  Prohibition,  and  in 
a  formal  address,  referred  to  elsewhere,  upon  that 
subject  to  the  legislature,  of  which  he  was  at  the  time 
a  member,  he  developed  the  logic  of  that  policy, 
demonstrating  by  irrefutable  argument  its  rightful- 
ness and  expediency.  We  were  warm  friends.  He 
was  many  years  my  senior,  but  I  was  often  in  his 
place  of  business  in  consultation  with  him  as  to  the 
best  methods  of  conducting  our  work  in  Portland. 
Before  coming  to  Portland,  while  a  citizen  of  Massa- 
chusetts, he  had  advocated  prohibition  of  the  liquor- 
traffic,  and  to  him  as  much  as  to  any  one  was  due  the 
interest  in  that  policy  I  began  to  feel  early  in  my 
labors  for  the  cause. 

Charles  A.  Stackpole,  when  I  first  made  his 
acquaintance,  was  a  resident  of  Bangor.  Subse- 
quently he  moved  to  Portland,  and  we  became 
intimately  acquainted  and  warm  friends.  His  mental 
ability  and  his  physical  and  moral  courage  were  out 
of  all  proportion  to  his  physique,  as  he  was  slight  of 
frame  and  stature,  being  somewhat  below  the  medium 
height.       A    clear,    incisive    speaker,    and    pungent 


236  EEMINISCEXCES 

writer,  he  was  always  found  in  the  front  of  every 
contest  involving  the  temperance  and  antislavery 
movements,  in  both  of  which  he  took  great  interest, 
devoting  thereto  far  more  time  than  he  could  reason- 
ably afford.  In  the  early  days  of  those  reforms  he 
abandoned  more  than  one  position  upon  which  he 
depended  for  support  of  himself  and  family,  rather 
than  subordinate  his  views  upon  those  questions  to 
the  wishes  of  his  employers. 

Lot  M.  Morrill  was  another  interested  member  of 
the  Union.  He  was  a  Democrat  at  that  time,  but 
afterwards,  as  a  Republican,  became  governor  of  the 
state,  United  States  senator,  and  secretary  of  the 
United  States  treasury.  From  this  latter  position  he 
retired  upon  the  accession  of  President  Hayes,  and 
was  appointed  collector  of  the  port  of  Portland,  which 
office  he  held  until  his  death.  Mr.  Morrill  always 
retained  his  interest  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  con- 
tributing to  it  with  voice  and  pen  all  through  his  long 
life  and  distinguished  political  career.  Years  after- 
ward, from  his  seat  in  the  United  States  senate,  he 
referred  to  the  liquor-traffic  as  "the  crime  of  crimes." 

General  Samuel  Fessenden,  of  Portland,  was  an- 
other influential  member.  He  was  very  prominent  as 
an  antislavery  leader  in  the  state.  He  had  been  in 
early  life  an  intimate  friend  of  Daniel  Webster,  and 
was  the  father  of  United  States  Senator  William  Pitt 
Fessenden.  A  man  of  great  intellectual  vigor,  he  had 
the  moral  courage  which  enabled  him  to  espouse  and 
devote  himself  to  whatever  he  believed  to  be  right, 
and  no  consideration  of  personal  popularity,  pecun- 
iary gain,  or  individual  comfort  could  induce  him  to 
swerve  from  the  path  he  had  chosen.  He  carried 
these  characteristics  into  his  profession  as  a  lawyer, 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  237 

in  ^Yllicll  he  lielcl  for  years  a  leading  position  in 
Maine,  and  lie  never  would  take  a  case  he  believed  to 
be  unjust.  In  later  years,  after  the  enactment  of  the 
prohibitory  law,  he  invariably  refused  retainers  from 
liquor-sellers,  his  view  being  that  they  were  deliberate 
violators  of  law,  unlike  those,  in  this  particular,  who 
might  commit  criminal  acts  under  stress  of  sudden 
temptation.  He  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age,  enjoying  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  all  who  knew  him. 

A  son  of  General  Fessenden,  Rev.  Samuel  C.  Fes- 
senden,  Hiram  Belcher,  of  Farmington,  Luther  Sev- 
erance, of  Augusta,  and  Samuel  P.  Benson,  all 
afterwards  members  of  Congress,  werO'  at  one  time 
or  another  members  of  this  Union.  Edward  Kent, 
twice  governor  of  Maine,  was  a  frequent  attendant. 
To  Governor  Kent,  as  has  been  related,  had  fallen  the 
rare  good  fortune  of  having  twice,  once  in  1837  and 
again  in  1840,  led  his  party,  (the  Whig,)  though 
ordinarily  largely  in  the  minority  in  the  state,  to 
victory  over  its  Democratic  rival  which,  save  in  those 
two  years,  up  to  1852,  was  in  the  control  of  Maine. 
He  was  for  several  years,  I  think  from  its  organiza- 
tion, a  vice-president  of  the  National  Temperance 
society,   until  1848,   when  I  succeeded  him. 

Among  those  still  living  who  were  interested  in  the 
Union,  is  Rev.  Austin  Willey, "  now  of  Minnesota,  a 
prominent  leader  in  the  antislavery  movement.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Willey  family  that  suffered  in  the  la- 
mentable landslide  in  the  White  Mountain  Notch  many 
years  ago,  and  was  editor  for  a  long  time  of  an 
antislavery  paper  published  in  this  city,  the  influence 
of  which  was  constantly  on  the  side  of  temperance. 
Indeed,   it  is  true  that  most  of  the  men  who  were 

*  Since  deceased. 


238  REMINISCENCES 

actively  engaged  in  either  the  temperance  or  the 
antislavery  movement  sympathized  with  the  other. 
Rev.  D.  B.  Randall"  was  also  a  member.  He  is  still 
living,  and  from  that  day  to  this  has  zealously  labored 
in  the  promotion  of  the  cause  he  thus  early  espoused. 

Hon.  John  Holmes  was  an  influential  member.  He 
had  been  the  president  of  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion of  the  state  and  one  of  the  first  two  United 
States  senators  from  Maine,  serving  from  1821  to 
1827,  and  again  from  1829  to  1833.  Mr.  Holmes  was  a 
man  of  great  ability,  and  at  one  time  of  commanding 
political  influence  in  Maine.  When  elected  to  the 
United  States  senate  he  Avas  a  resident  of  Alfred  in 
the  county  of  York.  Subsequently  he  married,  for 
his  second  wife,  a  daughter  of  General  John  Knox,  of 
Revolutionary  fame,  and  removing  to  Thomaston, 
resided  there  in  the  old  Knox  mansion.  It  is  seldom 
that  the  same  roof  has  covered  the  home  of  two  men 
so  distinguished  as  were  they  in  their  different 
spheres  of  life. 

Mr.  Holmes  was  an  interesting  speaker.  He  became 
active  in  the  temperance  movement,  and  was  a  wel- 
come advocate  of  it  in  different  parts  of  the  state.  I 
remember  well  his  relation  of  an  incident  occurring  in 
Thomaston.  The  people  were  considering  in  the 
spring  town-meeting  whether  licenses  to  sell  liquor 
should  be  granted.  This  was  a  common  occurrence 
in  the  towns  of  Maine  under  the  ' '  local-option " 
provision  prevailing  at  one  stage  of  the  temperance 
movement. 

After  a  long  discussion  the  house  was  polled.  To 
do  this  it  was  necessary  that  all  should  go  out  of  the 

*  Mr.  Randall  was  one  of  the  officiating  clergymen  at  the  funeral  of 
General  Dow. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  239 

building.  The  opponents  of  license  were  to  range 
themselves  on  one  side  of  the  road,  and  its  friends  to 
cross  over  to  the  other.  Among  those  present  was  a 
brawling  fellow,  who  had  strongly  favored  license, 
and  who  was  at  the  time  considerably  under  the 
influence  of  liquor.  As  the  voters  went  out  of  the 
town-house  to  divide,  this  man  shouted:  "Follow  me 
for  liberty!  "  Crossing  over  to  the  license  side  of  the 
street,  he  fell  in  the  slush  and  mud  of  the  gutter. 
Senator  Holmes  said  that  the  iljustration  of  the 
"liberty"  to  which  that  leader  would  persuade  was 
more  effective  for  the  anti-license  party  that  day  than 
all  the  speeches  that  had  been  made. 

Woodbury  Davis,  of  Belfast,  afterwards  of  Port- 
land, was  among  those  who  early  in  life  took  an 
interest  in  the  temperance  movement  in  Maine,  and 
whose  influence  as  long  as  he  lived  was  given  to  the 
cause.  His  devotion  thereto  subsequently  subjected 
him  to  much  annoyance  and  great  pecuniary  loss.  A 
devout  Christian,  a  gentleman  of  refinement,  and  an 
able  lawyer,  he  was  appointed  as  an  associate  justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  by  Gov.  Anson  P.  Morrill,  the 
appointment  being  made  in  the  fall  of  1855,  shortly 
after  the  defeat  of  Governor  Morrill  for  re-election  in 
the  reaction  against  Prohibition,  to  be  elsewhere 
related,  and  less  than  three  months  before  the  Gover- 
nor retired  from  office. 

The  appointment  under  those  circumstances  was 
irritating  to  the  leaders  of  the  political  combination 
which  had  carried  the  state  and  was  so  soon  to  have 
the  disposal  of  offices.  The  recognition  by  Judge 
Davis  of  one  of  two  sheriffs  claiming  the  right  to  act 
in  his  court  —  a  judicial  decision  upon  a  question 
of  law  —  was  made   the  pretext  for  the  gratification 


240  REMINISCENCES 

of  party  feeling,  and  lie  was  addressed  from  the  bencli 
by  the  legislature  of  185G,  which  was  controlled  by 
the  anti-Maine  Law  coalition.  He  was  restored  to 
the  position  in  less  than  a  year,  the  party  opposed  to 
Prohibition  having  meanwhile  lost  power,  and  contin- 
ued on  the  bench  nearly  ten  years,  when  he  resigned 
to  take  the  postmaster  ship  of  Portland.  During  the 
latter  portion  of  his  life  he  was  a  near  neighbor  of 
mine,  and  I  found  great  pleasure  in  his  companionship 
and  close  friendship. 

Naturally,  the  secession  to  the  Maine  Temperance 
Union  from  the  parent  society  included  the  most 
advanced  and  earnest  temperance  men  of  the  day. 

Among  the  resolutions  adopted  at  the  first  meeting 
of  the  Union,  was  the  following: 

"Resolved,  That  the  subject  of  petitioning  the  legislature 
for  prohibiting,  under  suital)lo  penalties,  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  as  a  drink,  be  recommended  for  discussion  at 
the  next  meeting  of  this  society." 

As  far  as  I  am  aware,  that  was  the  earliest  effort 
made  in  Maine  toward  the  development  of  a  public 
sentiment  favorable  to  Prohibition,  and  I  regret  that 
I  am  unable  to  give  the  name  of  the  person  who 
proposed  it.  It  was  embodied  in  a  report  upon 
"Subjects  to  be  Considered,"  presented  by  Eev. 
David  Thurston,  of  Winthrop.  I  think  it  more  than 
probable  that  General  Appleton,  of  Portland,  was  the 
author  of  the  resolution.  However  that  may  be,  from 
that  day  to  its  enactment  in  1851,  there  were  not 
wanting  in  Maine  men  Avho  were  earnest  adherents  of 
that  policy,  and  who  actively  exerted  themselves  to 
have  it  adopted  as  the  law  of  the  state. 

The  organization  of  the  Union  may  fairly  be 
regarded    as    the   first    in   the  series  of    progressive 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  241 

movements  resulting  in  the  enactment,  in  1851,  of 
what  has  since  been  known  as  "The  Maine  Law." 
For  fourteen  years  it  maintained  its  existence,  the 
recognized  head  of  all  organized  public  temperance 
effort  in  the  state.  The  means  which  it  adopted,  the 
agencies  it  employed,  and  the  work  it  inaugurated 
and  stimulated,  and  to  a  very  great  extent  directed 
and  controlled,  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  creating 
that  change  in  public  sentiment  by  means  of  which 
prohibition  of  the  liquor-trafiic  subsequently  became  a 
part  of  the  legislative  policy  of  the  state,  and  ulti- 
mately found  place  in  its  fundamental  law. 

Temperance  societies  were  formed  throughout  the 
state,  in  almost  every  town  and  village,  and  conven- 
tions were  held  quarterly  in  the  several  counties.  All 
this  was  largely  done  under  the  auspices  of  the  new 
society,  which  continued  to  assemble  in  its  own 
annual  conventions  at  Augusta  during  the  sessions 
of  the  legislature.  These  conventions  were  largely 
attended,  and  were  influential  in  forming  public 
opinion.  To  some  extent,  also,  they  were  subject  to 
and  reflected  public  opinion.  They  were  representa- 
tive gatherings.  Participation  in  them  was  not 
strictly  confined,  it  is  true,  to  regularly  elected 
delegates  from  local  societies.  All  members  of  such 
societies  present  at  the  annual  gatherings  of  the 
Union  were  permitted  to  take  part,  and  these,  as  well 
as  the  delegates,  were  generally  earnest  advocates  of 
temperance  in  their  various  localities. 

The  action  of  the  Union  from  year  to  year,  there- 
fore, may  be  considered  as  fairly  reflecting  the 
average  views  of  the  more  earnest  temperance  men 
of  Maine.  As  in  every  reformatory  movement,  there 
were,  of  course,  some  in  advance  of  the  mass  and  some 


2-12  KEMIXISCEXCES 

behind.  The  former  were  constant  in  urging  more 
positive  action;  the  latter  determined  not  to  move  ''too 
fast  and  too  far."  The  desire  of  all,  however,  was  to 
secure  unity  of  action  as  far  as  possible  with  such 
various  and  conflicting  views. 

At  one  of  the  meetings,  an  incident  fairly  illus- 
trated the  different  ideas  prevailing  in  the  two  —  right 
and  left^ — ^  wings  of  the  movement.  A  clergyman,  in 
a  carefully  considered  speech,  was  urging  the  impor- 
tance of  caution  and  moderation.  He  used  an 
illustration  familiar  everywhere  in  Maine  at  the 
time.     He  said: 

''You  know  how  the  careful  teamster,  when  his 
load  of  timber  reaches  the  brow  of  a  hill  down  which 
he  must  go,  always  removes  the  leading  yoke  of  oxen 
and  chains  them  on  l)ehind,  lest  the  load  shall  go 
down  too  rapidly,  crushing  everything  before  it;  so 
we  conservative  men  urge  you  to  caution  lest  you  be 
crushed  by  the  great  load  behind  you." 

An  enthusiastic  Methodist  minister  in  the  audience 
sprang  to  his  feet  at  the  close  of  the  speech  and  broke 
the  force  of  the  illustration  by  urging: 

' '  Our  work  is  all  up-hill.  We  need  no  pulling  back, 
but  want  our  leaders  in  front  to  help  us  over  the  hard 
road  we  have  to  climb !  " 

That  reply  carried  the  day  for  the  "progressive" 
element. 

Almost  concurrently  with  this  first  step  toward 
Prohibition  by  the  organized  temperance  men  of  the 
state,  the  first  action  of  a  legislative  committee  upon 
the  subject  was  taken. 

In  1837,  a  joint  special  committee  was  appointed  by 
the  legislature  to  take  into  consideration  the  entire 
subject  of  the  license  system  of  the  state.     This  com- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  243 

mittee  was  composed  of  Senators  David  C.  Magoun, 
Luther  Severance,  Josiah  Staples  and  Tristram  Red- 
Ion,  and,  on  tlie  part  of  the  house  of  representatives, 
of  James  Appleton,  Daniel  Clark,  William  D.  Sewall, 
Moses  Higgins,  Joshua  Eaton  and  Ebenezer  Knowl- 
ton,  all  influential  members  of  the  legislature.  Two, 
Messrs.  Severance  and  Knowlton,  were  afterwards 
members  of  Congress. 

To  this  committee  were  referred  the  petitions  of 
Hon.  Edward  Kent,  who  was  the  same  year  elected 
governor  of  the  state,  and  nearly  forty  thousand 
others,  praying  for  alterations  in  the  license  laws. 
The  committee  subsequently  submitted  a  report  writ- 
ten by  General  James  Appleton,  the  first  ofiicial  docu- 
ment in  the  history  of  Maine  in  which  Prohibition  is 
suggested  as  the  true  method  of  dealing  with  the 
liquor-trafiic.  It  will  be  interesting  to  note  some  of 
the  positions  taken  by  the  committee. 

The  report  commenced  with  the  statement  that 
"laws  granting  license  to  sell  ardent  spirits  have 
been  enacted  in  every  state  in  the  Union,  and  as  far 
as  the  committee  knows  they  are  at  this  time,  under 
different  forms,  in  operation  in  every  state. "  It  con- 
tinued: 

"The  first  license  law  of  Massachusetts  was  passed  in  the 
3'ear  1646,  and  although  from  that  day  until  the  present  they 
have  been  variously  altered  and  changed,  yet  at  this  time  the 
license  laws  of  Maine  are  substantially  what  they  were  at  first. 
They  authorize  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  for  common  use. 
This  is  the  principle  that  gives  them  character.  The  manner 
of  granting  the  license  or  the  form  of  the  law  are  circumstances 
of  no  great  amount," 

After  referring  to  the  generally  admitted  increase 
of  intemperance  and  the  operation  of  state  laws,  the 
report  says : 


244  EEMIXISCEKCES 

"Although  other  causes,  no  doubt,  were  in  operation,  yet 
there  are  many  reasons  for  the  opinion  that  those  laws  were 
the  principal  cause  of  the  result.  They  make  it  lawful  and 
reputable  for  a  person  who  lias  a  license,  to  soil  it  and  of  course 

not  iinpro}ior  nor  disluniorable  to  purchase  and  use  it 

It  tirst  assumes  that  alcohol  is  necessary  for  common  use,  and 
then  makes  provision  that  there  shall  be  no  deticiency  by  mak- 

ino-  it  the  duty  of  the  select  few  to  keep  it  for  sale 

The  law  has  given  character  and  respectability  to  the  tratKc, 
and  has  done  much  to  tix  on  the  minds  of  the  public  the  im- 
pression that  rum  is  necessary  and  that  the  public  good  re- 
quires it.     It  was  seen  many  years  since  that  no  restrictions  or 

regulations  could  prevent  abuse  or  violatimi  of  the  law 

But  these  regulations  only  sol'^■o  to  keep  alive  and  augment  the 
evil.  How  could  it  bo  otherwise?  It  is  repugnant  to  the  tirst 
perceptions  of  common  sense  to  suppose  that  a  man  who  merely 
obtained  a  license  could  innocently  sell  'strong  water'  — the 
name  tirst  given  to  rum  in  the  colonial  laws — and  that  any 
other  man  could  be  justly  liable  to  whipjiing,  Avhich  was 
ordered  by  one  act,  for  soiling  it  Avithout  a  license.  The  same 
may  be  observed  of  our  present  laws.  They  are  absurd  on 
the  face  of  them.  The  people  will  never  bo  satisfied  that  if 
the  tavornor  might  rightfully  vend  tho  article  l)y  the  glass,  to 
the  ruin  of  his  neighbor,  it  is  a  crime  for  the  retailor  to  do  the 
same The  trade,  except  for  medicinal  and  manufac- 
turing purposes  is  morally  and  politically  wrong,  and  no  law 

or  legislation  can  change  its  essential  character If  it 

is  found  that  the  bar-room  and  grog-shop  are  subversive  of  the 
jniblic  good,  may  we  not  say  so,  shall  we  not  shut  them  up? 

"There  is  no  more  reason  for  supposing  that  you  can  re- 
strain this  evil  without  law  than  for  supposing  that  theft, 
gambling  or  any  other  crime  can  be  restrained  without  law. 

This  (prohibition)  will  be  a  public  expression  by  the 

legislature,  which  cannot  be  mistaken  and  which  cannot  fail  of 
exerting  the  most  salutary  inlluence  upon  the  whole  com- 
munity  When  it  is  seen  that  the  tratlic  in  any  article 

entails  not  only  pauperism  and  crime  iquni  tho  ctinnnunity, 
but  that  in  numerous  cases  it  threatens  human  life,  and  in  many 
instances  destroys  it  at  once,  it  is  ditticult  of  escaping  the  con- 
clusion   that  the  government    should  interpose  and    prohibit 

it  altogether The  objection  will    doubtless  be   made 

that  if  Ave  had  such  a  law  it  could  not  be  enforced.  Now  ad- 
mit the  validity  of  this  objection,  and  it  proves  the  utter  hope- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  245 

lessness  of  the  case,  for  no  one,  wc  presume,  will  venture  the 
supposition  that  you  can  accomplish  against  law  that  which 
you  cannot  etl'ect  with  it.  It  is  sufficiently  difficult  to  reform 
the  manners  and  habits  of  the  community  when  the  influence 
and  authority  of  the  law  can  be  brought  to  aid  the  object,  but 
to  do  this  against  the  law  and  against  the  direct  and  powerful 
interests  of  a  numerous  class  of  men  created  by  law  is  scarcely 

possible One  immediate  eflect  (of  prohibition)  would 

be  to  render  the  traflic  disreputal)le  as  well  as  unlawful.  No 
individual  who  had  any  respect  for  his  character  would  con- 
tinue the  practice 

"Suppose  the  law  we  have  in  view  should  be  sometimes 
violated,  this  would  be  no  sufficient  objection  to  making  it,  for 
what  law  is  there  Avhich  men  kee})  perfectly?  But  we  are  not 
left  to  conjecture  on  tiiis  point.  We  have  a  law  to  prevent 
gambling  in  this  state.  Now  the  eflect  of  this  law  has  not 
been  to  banish  gambling,  but  it  has  had  the  effect  to  prevent 
or  greatly  restrain  the  evil.  It  is  considered  disgraceful  to 
keep  a  gambling-house,  and  gaml)lers  are  unwilling  to  be 
known  in  this  character,  hence  they  seek  the  darkness  of  the 
night  and  secluded  places  for  their  purpose,  and  the  commu- 
nity is  thus  generally  saved  from  the  pernicious  influence  of 
their  example.  Now  supj)Ose  if  instead  of  this  law  prohibit- 
ing gambling  we  had  a  statute  to  regulate  gambling  by  grant- 
ing licenses  to  open  gambling-shops  in  every  part  of  the  state — 
and  it  would  be  nuich  less  demoralizing  and  not  more  unrea- 
sonable than  the  rum  laws  —  what,  your  committee  ask,  would 
be  the  effect  of  such  a  law?  It  is  in  vain,  therefore,  to  object 
to  a  hnv  that  it  cannot  prevent  the  offense  it  prohibits.  We 
have  a  law  against  theft,  but  have  we  no  larcenies? 

"The  mere  existence  of  such  a  law  would  exert  the  most 
salutary  inffuence  upon  the  public  mind.  It  would  of  itself 
go  far  to  create  public  opinion  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of 
ardent  spirits,  for  it  is  no  more  true  that  the  laws  are  an  ex- 
pression of  public  opinion  than  that  they  inffuence  and  deter- 
mine public  opinion.  They  are  as  surely  the  cause  as  the  effect 
of  the  public  t)opular  will.  It  is  the  nature  of  law  to  mold 
the  public  mind  to  its  requirements,  and  to  fasten  upon  all  an 

abiding  impression  of   its    value    and    necessity All 

good  and  wholesome  laws  prescribe,  at  least,  what  is  right,  and 
forbid    what  is  wrong.     They  raise  the    standard  high,  and 

caution,  and  warn  and  forbid Not  so  with  the  rum 

(license)  laws.     In  their  spirit  and  letter,  whether  executed  or 

17 


246  EEMINISCEXCES 

not  executed,  whether  obeyed  or  disobeyed,  their  only  effect 
is  to  destroy.  The  path  they  mark  out  is  not  the  path  of  truth 
and  safety  or  virtue  and  happiness 

"  It  (the  liquor-traffic)  leads  to  ruin,  and  its  steps  take  hold 

on  the  grave It  is  a  public  evil,  or  it  is  not.     If  it  is, 

it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  the  legislature  to  stay  it  at  once. 

If  it  is  not  an  evil,  it  should  be  equally  free  to  all We 

would  not  prohibit  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  because  it  is  in- 
consistent with  our  religious  and  moral  obligations,  although, 
doubtless,  this  is  the  fact,  but  l)ecause  the  traffic  is  inconsistent 
with  our  obligations,  as  citizens  of  the  state,  and  subversive 
of  our  social  rights  and  civil  institutions. 

"If  it  is  again  objected  that  there  is  something  stronger 
and  more  to  be  depended   upon  than   human  laws,   even  the 

spread  of  religious  sentiments  and  upright  principles, 

what  does  it  value  in  the  present  case  ?  The  question  is  not 
of  the  value  of  religious  sentiments  and  upright  principles, 
nor  their  persistency  in  controlling  the  actions  of  those  who 
possess  these  virtues,  but  is  how  men  are  to  be  controlled  in 
the  absence  of  these  principles.  On  what  else  could  we  safely 
depend  but  the  law  to  restrain  the  vicious  and  intemperate? 

"Public  opinion  is,  doubtless,  lixed  against  highway  rob- 
l)ery,  but  repeal  the  law  against  this  crime,  and  how  long 
would  a  man  travel  and  be  safe?  The  truth  is,  laws  must  be 
framed  for  men  as  they  are,  and  so  long  as  they  are  the  crea- 
tures of  passion  and  appetite  you  will  never  effectually  succeed 
in  restraining  the  perverse  except  by  super-adding  to  the  dic- 
tates of  reason  the  sanction  and  authority  of  the  law.  The  ques- 
tion of  the  essential  alterations  in  the  license  laws  has  been 
canvassed  for  several  years  by  the  people  of  the  state,  and 
petitions  to  this  effect  have  again  and  again  l)een  preferred  to 
the  legislature,  and  your  committee  recognize  that  the  time 
has  arrived  when  it  is  proper  to  act  upon  the  subject.  They 
therefore  offer  the  annexed  bill." 

As  the  bill  referred  to  was  the  first  prohibitory 
measure  introduced  in  the  Maine  legislature,  it  is 
inserted  in  full,  though  it  failed  to  become  a  law. 

"  An  Act  to  regulate  the  Sale  of  Brandy,  Rum  or  any  Strong 
Liquor : 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  in 
legislature  assembled  : 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  247 

Section  1,  No  person  shall  be  allowed  to  sell  brandy,  rum 
or  any  strong  liquors  in  a  less  quantity  than  twenty-eight 
gallons,  and  that  delivered  and  carried  away  all  at  one  time, 
except  physicians  and  apothecaries,  who  may  sell  the  same 
for  medicinal  and  manufacturing  purposes.  And  if  any  per- 
son, except  the  individuals  aforesaid,  and  for  the  purposes 
named,  shall  at  any  time  sell  any  spirituous  liquors  or  any 
mixed  liquors,  part  of  which  is  spirituous,  in  a  less  quantity 
than  twenty-eight  gallons,  as  aforesaid,  he  shall  forfeit  and 
pay  for  each  and  every  offence  the  sum  of  twenty  dollars,  to 
be  recovered  by  action  of  debt,  or  upon  complaint  before  any 
justice  within  the  same  county  where  said  offence  was  com- 
mitted. 

Section  2.  Be  it  further  enacted  that  prosecutions  for  the 
penalty  mentioned  in  the  first  section  of  this  act  may  be  com- 
menced by  any  person  or  persons,  or  in  the  name  of  the 
inhabitants  of  any  town  or  plantation  or  city  where  said 
offence  is  committed,  to  be  appropriated  toward  the  support 
of  the  poor  of  said  town,  city  or  plantation. 

Section  3.  Be  it  further  enacted  that  when  any  individual 
shall  refuse  or  neglect  to  pay  the  penalty  aforesaid  that,  may 
be  recovered  against  him  by  virtue  of  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  then  in  such  cases  he  shall  be  liable  to  be  imprisoned  for 
a  term  of  thirty  days  within  the  county  jail  situated  in  the 
county  within  which  such  offence  shall  have  been  committed, 
and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  justice  aforesaid  to  issue  his 
execution  or  mittimus  accordingly. 

Section  4.  Be  it  further  enacted  that  this  act  shall  take 
effect  and  be  enforced  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  Septem- 
ber, 1837,  and  all  acts  or  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  with  the 
provisions  of  this  act  be,  and  the  same  are  repealed." 

With  the  presentation  of  that  report,  the  lines 
began  to  be  clearly  drawn  between  those  who  adopted 
the  principles  laid  down  by  General  Appleton  and 
those  who  clung  to  the  old  methods  of  dealing  with 
the  liquor-traffic. 

Though  in  one  form  or  another  at  almost  every 
session  of  the  legislature  the  measures  relating  to  the 
liquor-traffic  had  been  presented  for  consideration, 
and  though  up  to  1837  more  than  half  the  legislatures 


248  REMINISCENCES 

liad  enacted  laws  bearing  upon  the  subject,  no  gover- 
nor had  deemed  the  topic  worthy  of  notice  in  an 
inaugural  address;  but  when,  in  1838,  Governor 
Edward  Kent,  whose  election  as  a  Whig  by  a  very 
narrow  margin,  in  the  fall  of  1837,  had  broken  the 
long  line  of  Democratic  victories  in  Maine,  assumed 
the  executive  chair,  he  said  in  his  address  to  the 
legislature : 

"The  cause  of  temperance  and  that  philanthropic  move- 
ment which  has  already  done  so  much  to  check  the  ravages 
of  the  fell  destroyer  of  individual  health  and  happiness,  and 
prolific  source  of  crime  and  misery  —  intemperance  —  depend 
mainly  for  their  ultimate  and  perfect  success  upon  moral 
causes,  but  may  yet  receive  aid  and  support  from  legal  enact- 
ments which  shall  put  the  seal  of  reprobation  upon  the  traffic 
in  ardent  spirits  whenever  public  sentiment  will  sustain  the 
strict  enforcement  of  the  provisions  of  such  a  statute." 

I  had  been  acquainted  with  Governor  Kent  for 
some  time.  He  was  about  my  age,  and  I  first  met  him 
when  he  Avas  in  attendance  upon  one  of  the  legisla- 
tures sitting  in  Portland.  Afterwards,  when  in 
Bangor,  I  renewed  his  acquaintance  and  saw  him 
there  frequently.  The  temperance  question  was 
often  a  subject  of  conversation  between  us,  and  we 
were  in  substantial  accord  upon  it,  with  the  result 
that  our  mutual  interest  in  it  was  increased. 

As  mayor  of  Bangor  in  1837,  he  referred  in  his 
inaugural  address  to  intemperance,  as  follows: 

"The  subject  of  pauperism  leads  to  the  consideration  of  its 
prolific  source  —  intemperance.  As  a  municipal  corporation 
we  are  interested  in  this  subject,  for  our  burdens  and  taxes 
are  swelled  by  the  crime  and  misery  attendant  upon  this 
destroyer  of  human  life  and  human  happiness.  As  the  consti- 
tuted guardians  of  the  public  weal,  it  is  our  duty  to  do  what  we 
can  to  restrain  its  ravages.  I  trust  that  the  resolution  adopted 
by  the  board  of  last  year  will  be  adhered  to,  and  that  no  legal- 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  249 

ized  and  licensed  drinking  will  be  found  in  our  limits.  In  my 
view,  the  sanction  or  influence  of  legal  authority  should  never 
be  given  to  a  traific  which  tills  our  jails  with  criminals  and 
almshouses  w^ith  paupers,  and  our  whole  land  with  want  and 
misery." 

That  year  lie  was  renominated  by  tlie  Wliigs  as 
their  candidate  for  governor,  they  having  supported 
him  for  that  position  in  the  previous  year,  when  if  I 
mistake  not,  he  was  also  mayor.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  in  both  years  he  found  in  me  a  most 
enthusiastic  supporter.  I  was  led  to  special  activity, 
not  so  much  by  my  high  personal  esteem  for  him  as  by 
the  fact  of  his  general  interest  in  the  cause  with 
which  I  was  also  deeply  concerned. 

It  would  be  presumptuous  for  me  to  say  that  I  had 
any  influence  in  leading  him  to  refer  to  the  matter  of 
temperance  legislation  in  his  inaugural  as  governor  in 
the  winter  of  1838.  He  was  undoubtedly  inclined  to 
that,  as  witness  what  he  had  said  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  before  as  mayor  of  Bangor;  but  we  conversed 
upon  the  subject,  and  whatever  I  did  say  was  quite  in 
line  with  his  own  judgment.  He  was  again  elected  in 
1840.  Our  acquaintance  had  been  in  the  meantime 
kept  up,  and  he  appointed  me  on  his  staff. 


CHAPTER  X. 


MAINE     TEMPEEANCE     UNION      CONTINUED.  IT      DECLARES 

FOR    PROHIBITION.        ENACTMENT     OF     PROHIBITORY 

LAW    IN    1846.        FURTHER   LEGISLATION. 


As  we  have  seen,  1837  may  fairly  be  taken  as  the 
date  of  the  first  attempt  at  departure  in  Maine  from 
the  time-w^orn  and  illogical  attempt  to  limit  and 
curtail  the  evils  of  the  liquor-traffic  through  the 
legal  endorsement  of  it  as  a  useful  and  necessary 
trade.  In  that  year  the  Maine  Temperance  Union 
voted  to  consider  the  expediency  of  asking  for  Prohi- 
bition. In  that  year,  General  Appleton,  in  advance 
of  the  great  mass  of  his  co-laborers  for  temperance, 
advocated  that  policy  in  the  legislature,  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  and  in  that  year  Governor  Kent  was 
elected,  who  upon  assuming  office  called  attention  to 
it  as  an  end  to  be  desired. 

It  may  now  be  convenient  to  trace  the  way  toward 
the  final  adoption  of  that  policy  in  the  action  of  the 
Maine  Temperance  Union  and  of  the  state  legislature. 
These  were  both  representative  bodies  —  the  latter, 
the  constitutional  one,  of  the  average  sentiment  of 
the  entire  people  upon  general  matters  which  were 
proper  subjects  for  legislative  action;  the  former,  of 
the  more  active  and  zealous  friends  of  temperance. 


EEMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL   DOW.  251 

The  Union  assembled  at  Angusta  February  7tli, 
1838,  for  its  first  meeting  after  its  organization. 
Henry  Tall  man,  of  Bath,  afterwards  an  attorney- 
general  of  the  state,  as  chairman  of  the  committee 
of  arrangements,  presented  the  following: 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  one  from  each  county  be 
raised  to  appear  l)efore  the  committee  of  the  legislature  which 
has  under  consideration  the  license  law." 

"  Resolved  :  That  the  committee  be  instructed  to  advocate 
the  passage  of  a  law  by  the  legislature  prohibiting  under  suit- 
able penalties  the  sale  of  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  drink." 

Those  resolutions  were  debated  at  great  length. 
Strong  opposition  was  manifested.  Many  members 
upon  both  sides  of  the  question  spoke,  but  the  resolu- 
tions were  finally  adopted.  The  committee  appointed 
under  them  consisted  of  William  D.  Little,  from 
Cumberland  county,  (Mr.  Little  is  still  living,  a  much 
respected  citizen  of  Portland)'"  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer,  from 
Lincoln  county;  Rev.  Stephen  Thurston,  of  Waldo; 
Joseph  W.  Mason,  of  Penobscot;  Eben  Weston,  of 
Somerset;  Rev.  Philip  Munger,  of  Oxford;  and  Hon. 
Samuel  Reddington,  of  Kennebec.  As  I  now  remem- 
ber, that  was  the  first  committee  to  appear  before  a 
legislature  in  Maine  to  advocate  Prohibition. 

Considerable    feeling    had    been    aroused    in    the 

discussion  of  the  resolutions,  and  fear  was  expressed 

lest  endorsement  of  Prohibition  should  be  made  a 

test  of  membership  in  the  Union.     With  the  intent  of 

allaying  this,  the  following  was  unanimously  adopted: 

"Resolved:  That  this  society,  having  taken  the  high 
ground  of  total  abstinence  from  all  that  intoxicates,  has 
settled  every  important  principle,  and  we  need  not,  as  we 
cannot,  raise  our  standard  higher.  It  is,  therefore,  now  the 
appropriate  duty  of  this  society  to  labor  to  extend  the  influ- 
ence of  this  one  principle  through  the  community." 

*  Since  deceased. 


252  KEMINISCENCES 

The  following  resolution  was  indefinitely  postponed : 

' '  Resolved  :  That  this  society  recommends  to  the  friends 
of  temperance  to  use  their  influence  in  enforcing  the  penalties 
of  the  law  against  the  sale  of  strong  liquors." 

In  the  legislature  of  1838  a  joint  special  committee 
on  license  laws  was  appointed,  of  which  General 
Apple  ton  was  again  chairman  on  the  part  of  the 
house.  This  committee  subsequently  reported  as 
follows: 

"Whereas,  intem})erance  is  a  great  social  and  public  evil, 
and 

"Whereas,  it  is  the  direct  effect  of  any  law  which 
authorizes  or  grants  a  license  to  sell  ardent  spirits  or 
other  intoxicating  drinks  for  common  use  to  augment  and 
perpetuate  this  evil,  and 

"  Whereas,  the  business  of  vending  ardent  spirits  or  other 
intoxicating    drink    for  common  use    is    subversive    of  good 
order  and  the  public  peace,  therefore, 
,     "Be  it  enacted,"  etc. 

The  bill  accompanying  this  report  repealed  all  the 
license  laws  of  the  state  and  prohibited  the  sale  of 
liquor  as  a  beverage;  and  it  further  provided  for  the 
submission  of  the  law  to  the  people,  and  if  the 
majority  were  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  the  law  it 
was  to  go  into  effect  from  the  date  of  the  proclamation 
of  the  governor  to  that  effect  and  not  otherwise.  But 
the  bill  did  not  pass. 

Of  the  legislature  of  1839  General  Appleton  was 
again  a  member  and  again  chairman  on  the  part  of 
the  house  committee  on  license  laws.  This  committee 
reported  a  bill  which  did  not  pass,  prohibiting  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  any  quantity,  mixed  or 
unmixed,  to  be  drunk  on  the  premises,  and  it  repealed 
all  provisions  of  existing  laws  for  license. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  253 

When  the  Union  assembled  for  its  third  annual 
meeting,  it  was  found  that  the  advanced  stand  taken 
at  its  second  meeting  as  to  the  use  of  liquors,  and  its 
recommendation  of  Prohibition,  had  led  to  the  luke- 
warmness  of  many  who,  in  their  way,  had  been 
interested  in  the  work.  The  Union  had  also  encount- 
ered opposition  from  some  who,  formerly  active,  had 
withdrawn  entirely  from  associated  temperance  effort. 
At  this  meeting  a  committee  was  appointed  "to 
devise  some  means  of  securing  the  co-operation  of  all 
the  friends  of  temperance  in  carrying  forward  the 
temperance  reform,  whether  adopting  the  pledge  of 
the  Union  or  not."  This  committee  subsequently 
reported,  inviting  the  co-operation  of  societies  ' '  whose 
bond  of  association  is  different  in  some  respects  from 
that  of  this  Union,"  and  permitting  them  to  send 
delegates  to  the  meetings. 

The  report  was  finally  adopted,  though  not  until 
after  a  long  and  heated  discussion,  in  which  the 
progressive  and  conservative  elements  indulged  in 
more  or  less  asperity  of  debate  as  to  the  methods  they 
respectively  advocated  or  opposed.  Among  other 
resolutions  was  the  following,  offered  by  General 
Appleton,  of  Portland: 

"Resolved,  That  General  James  Appleton,  Neal  Dow,  and 
Dr.  Clark,  of  Portland,  be  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the 
best  method  of  proceeding  with  intemperate  persons  in  order 
to  their  recovery,  and  also  into  the  expediency  of  providing  a 
hospital  or  asylum  in  this  state  for  the  cure  and  restoration  of 
that  unhappy  class  of  our  fellow-citizens  who  have  contracted 
that  settled  habit  of  intemperance,  and  report  at  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Union." 

Those  most  active  in  urging  legislation  against  the 
liquor-traffic  were  in  those  days,  as  always,  as  deeply 


254  EEMIXISCEXCES 

interested  and  zealous  as  any  in  other  phases  of  the 
temperance  ^vork. 

Reversing  the  action  of  the  last  meeting,  relative  to 
the  enforcement  of  the  existing  license  laws,  the 
Union  this  year  resolved: 

"It  is  necessary  to  exercise  clail}''  and  constant  vigilance 
in  detecting  the  unlawful  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  to 
cause  the  license  law  to  be  executed  on  all  those  who  trans- 
gress it." 

There  was  quite  as  much  official  indifference  as  to 
the  enforcement  of  the  restrictive  features  of  the 
license  laws  of  the  day  as  has  prevailed  at  any  time 
since  in  the  enforcement  of  prohibitory  statutes. 

The  Union  also  adopted  the  following: 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  draft  a 
petition  to  the  legislature  urging  upon  its  attention  the  im- 
portance of  passing  a  law  prohibiting  the  traffic  in  ardent 
spirits  in  quantities  less  than  twenty-eight  gallons,  excepting 
for  mechanical  and  medicinal  purposes." 

At  its  meeting  held  February  4th,  1840,  the  Union 
resolved : 

"That  a  correct  public  sentiment  on  this  as  well  as  on 
every  other  subject  should  be  allow^ed  to  manifest  itself  in 
every  suitable  way  :  that  one  of  those  ways  is  the  establish- 
ment of  good  and  wholesome  laws  ;  that  the  best  and  most 
wholesome  law  would  be  a  law  prohibiting  the  sale  of  intox- 
icating liquors  as  a  beverage,  and  it  is  the  deliberate  and 
solemn  conviction  of  this  Union  that  it  is  the  duty  of  wise 
and  virtuous  legislators  to  conform  their  action  to  this  high 
standard,  and  as  soon  and  as  fast  as  it  is  proper,  to  establish 
such  laws." 

Notwithstanding  the  educational  influence  actively 
engaged  throughout  the  state  for  nearly  twenty  years, 
there  were  as  late  as  1840  many  respectable  citizens  of 
Maine  interested  in  the  liquor  business  in  one  form  or 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  255 

another,  and  among  tlie  resolutions  adopted  at  this 
meeting  was  the  following: 

"  Resolved,  That  those  who  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  to 
be  used  as  a  beverage  are  greatly  hindering  the  progress  of 
temperance,  and  ought  at  once  as  good  citizens  to  abandon 
such  traffic." 

That  resolution  was  adopted  unanimously,  and  was 
cordially  supported  by  those  members  of  the  Union 
still  unwilling  to  favor  the  application  of  legal  penal- 
ties to  those  dealers  in  intoxicants  who  were  not 
amenable  to  such  considerations  as  that  resolution 
expressed. 

Before  the  next  annual  gathering  of  the  Union  the 
influence  of  the  great  reformatory  Washingtonian 
movement  had  extended  over  a  large  portion  of  the 
state.  When  the  Union  assembled,  February  1st, 
1842,  it  was  largely  animated  by  the  spirit  developed 
in  that  great  wave  of  reform.  No  less  than  six  reso- 
lutions referring  to  it,  thanking  God  for  it,  hailing  it 
as  the  dawn  of  a  brighter  day,  and  providing  for 
guiding  and  utilizing  it,  and  co-operating  with  it, 
were  discussed  and  adopted.  Some  of  them,  read 
to-day  in  the  absence  of  all  knowledge  of  the  circum- 
stances existing  when  they  were  adopted,  might  excite 
some  curiosity.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  many  of 
the  men  active  in  the  Washingtonian  movement  were 
reformed  drunkards.  Some  of  them  brought  into  the 
meetings  more  zeal  than  culture,  and  their  platform 
efforts  were  characterized  by  more  earnestness  than 
elegance  of  diction. 

The  ever-present  memory  of  their  own  sufferings 
and  the  wrongs  which,  through  their  intemperance, 
their  families  had  experienced  impelled  most  Wash- 
ingtonians    to    unvarnished    speech.       Opponents  of 


256  KEMINISCENCES 

temperance  were  quick  to  criticize  their  talk,  urging 
it  as  an  excuse  for  their  unwillingness  to  do  anything 
for  temperance,  and  as  a  reason  why  aid  should  he 
withheld.  There  were  others,  too,  who  regretted 
that  form  of  speech,  but  whose  devotion  to  the  cause 
was  sufficient  to  keep  them  interested,  notwithstanding 
their  disapproval  of  much  that  was  said  and  done  in 
its  name  by  these  new  friends.  The  Union,  recogniz- 
ing this  condition  of  things,  adopted  the  following: 

"  Eesoh^od,  That  while  the  employment  of  harsh  epithets 
may  have  no  tendency  to  advance  this  or  any  other  good 
cause,  fidelity  will  often  demand  that  our  views  of  the 
conduct  of  our  fellow-men  be  frankly  and  unequivocally 
expi'cssed. 

"  Kesolved,  That  though  wo  may  not  think  it  necessary  or 
courteous  to  denominate  vendors  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
thieves,  robbers,  and  uuirderers,  we  cannot  repress  the  belief 
or  hesitate  to  avow  that  incalculably  greater  evils  have  re- 
sulted from  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  than  from  all 
thefts,  robberies,  and  murders  that  have  ever  been  committed 
in  our  country." 

An  attempt  was  made  to  commit  the  Union  at  this 
meeting  to  Proliibition,  but  a  resolution  to  that  end 
was  laid  upon  the  table. 

The  sixth  annual  meeting  assembled  in  Portland, 
October  12th,  1842.  It  was  presided  over  by  Hon. 
Joseph  C.  Noyes,  of  Eastport.  Mr,  Noyes  had  been 
a  representative  to  Congress,  and  was  a  business  man 
of  large  experience,  and  a  gentleman  of  strict  integ- 
rity. He  afterwards  moved  to  Portland,  where  he 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  retaining  the  esteem 
and  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens.  There  he  held  a 
most  important  position  of  trust  and  usefulness,  now 
held  by  one  of  his  sons,  a  most  respected  citizen.  The 
following  resolution  was  adopted,  though  its  intro- 
duction led  to  warm  discussion: 


OF   NEAL    DOAV.  257 

"Resolved,  That  while  moral  suasion  shall  continue  to  be 
urged  upon  those  engaged  in  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
we  are  constrained  to  regard  them  as  offenders  against  the 
good  and  wholesome  laws  of  the  land,  and  can  see  no  reason 
why  they  as  well  as  other  offenders  should  not  be  held 
amenal)le  to  those  laws." 

The  next  meeting  of  the  Union  was  held  in 
Augusta,  February  7th,  1844.  The  president,  Joseph 
C.  Noyes,  read  an  address  which  had  been  prepared, 
to  be  signed  by  citizens  of  Eastport,  and  then  sent 
to  the  rumsellers  of  that  place.  It  was  an  appeal  to 
them  to  abandon  the  business  as  one  detrimental  to 
the  material  and  moral  interests  of  the  community, 
and  therefore  one  in  which  good  citizens  should  not 
be  engaged.  Among  the  resolutions  offered  was  the 
following : 

''Resolved,  That  the  present  laws  in  relation  to  the  sale  of 
ardent  spirits  ought  to  be  repealed  and  prohibitory  laws 
ought  to  be  passed  instead." 

This  excited  long  and  earnest  discussion,  and  was 
finally  laid  upon  the  table.  A  counter-resolution  was 
then  offered  by  the  conservatives,  declaring  that: 

"  Moral  suasion  has  been,  is  now,  and  will  continue  to  be 
the  great  motive  power  of  the  temperance  reformation,  and 
on  this  is  based  our  hopes  of  final  and  complete  triumph." 

This  resolution,  as  a  result  of  the  feeling  developed 
in  the  discussion  of  the  one  just  referred  to,  was  also 
laid  upon  the  table.  Perhaps  at  no  other  period  in 
the  history  of  the  temperance  movement  in  Maine 
were  charges  and  countercharges  so  common  between 
the  conservative  and  progressive  elements  of  the 
friends  of  temperance.  Those  who  opposed  Prohi- 
bition were  vehement  in  asserting  that  the  friends 
of  that    policy  were    unfriendly    to  moral    suasion. 


258  EEMINISCEXCES 

These  in  turn  insisted  that  the  logical  and  inevitable 
result  of  moral  suasion  -vrould  be  the  outlawry  of  the 
liquor-shop,  and  that  the  effort  to  accomplish  this  was 
the  most  effectual  kind  of  moral  suasion,  as  it  could 
only  be  reached  by  convincing  the  people  that  their 
moral  and  material  welfare  demanded  the  removal  of 
temptation  to  the  continued  use  of  liquor  as  a  bever- 
age, which  was  found  in  the  rumshops,  all  the  more 
potent  for  evil  because  they  existed  under  the  recogni- 
tion and  protection  of  law. 

Since  1835  there  had  been  no  substantial  change  in 
the  license  laws,  but  in  this  year,  1844,  an  explanatory 
act  was  passed,  declaring  that  the  statute  should  be 
so  construed  that  the  licensing  boards  might  have 
power  to  grant  license  to  others  than  inn-holders  or 
victualers,  prohibiting  these  latter  from  selling  wine, 
brandy,  or  any  strong  liquors  by  retail,  or  in  less 
quantity  than  twenty-eight  gallons,  delivered  or 
carried  away  at  one  time. 

The  eighth  annual  meeting  of  the  Union,  which 
assembled  at  Augusta,  on  the  29th  of  January,  1845, 
was  prol3ably  more  influential  in  its  personnel  and 
action  than  any  of  its  predecessors.  The  governor  of 
the  state,  Hugh  J.  Anderson,  of  Belfast,  was  made 
president.  Governor  Anderson  had  been  twice  a 
member  of  Congress,  and  was  then  serving  his  second 
term  as  chief  magistrate,  and  was  subseciuently 
re-elected  for  a  third  term.  Portland,  among  others, 
sent  the  Rev.  William  T.  Dwight,  D.  D.,  one  of  the 
leading  Congregational  clergymen  of  the  state,  Wil- 
liam W.  Thomas,  and  William  Senter,  both  of  whom 
afterwards  Ijecame  mayor  of  Portland.  Ex-Governor 
Kent,  Hon.  Noah  Smith,  Jr.,  of  Calais,  and  many 
other  men  of  note,  were  in  attendance. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  25'.) 

It  was  publicly  stated  in  the  meeting  that  the 
majority  of  the  executive  council,  of  the  senate  and 
house  of  representatives  had  signed  the  pledge  of  the 
Union  and  were  favorably  disposed  to  legislation  to 
promote  the  cause.  It  may  be  noted  as  a  matter  of 
interest  that  of  those  present,  Noah  Smith,  Jr.,  of 
Calais,  afterwards,  in  1851,  as  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature and  chairman  of  the  temperance  committee  on 
the  part  of  the  house,  reported  '^  The  Maine  Law"  to 
the  legislature. 

The  meeting  was  not  only  made  up  of  men  of  influ- 
ence in  the  councils  of  the  state,  but  was  more  radical 
than  any  of  its  predecessors.  The  Rev.  Dr.  D wight, 
of  Portland,  was  formally  invited  to  deliver  a 
discourse  upon  "Law  as  a  means  of  promoting  the 
temperance  reform."  This  address,  no  less  from  its 
ability  than  from  the  high  standing  of  its  reverend 
author,  attracted  great  attention  and  created  a  pro- 
found sensation  in  the  state.  Dr.  Dwight  was  a  man 
of  dignified,  gentlemanly  and  attractive  presence, 
with  a  fine  voice  and  an  animated  and  impressive 
delivery,  which,  with  his  ripe  scholarship  and  rare 
intellectual  attainments,  made  him  a  most  efi'ective 
speaker.  In  this  discourse  he  took  an  unqualified 
position  in  favor  of  Prohibition. 

The  resolutions  adopted,  affirmed  that  individuals 
engaged  in  the  liquor-traffic  ' '  arre  the  most  guilty  of 
any  criminals  known  to  us,"  and  should  be  "both 
regarded  and  treated  according  to  their  guilt  as  are 
other  criminals;  that  to  patronize  a  store  or  tavern  in 
which  intoxicating  drinks  are  sold  is  to  countenance 
and  support  intemperance."    It  was  also  resolved: 

"  As  the  sense  of  this  convention  that  a  law  be  asked  of 
our  legislature  to  "Tant  no  license  for  the  sellino-  of  intoxicat- 


260  REMINISCENCES 

inir  liciiiors  to  be  used  as  a  drink,  and  to  provide  effectual 
penalties  of  tines  and  iniprisonnient  against  traffic  in  liquors." 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  appear  before  tlie 
legislative  committee  upon  license  laws  to  urge  tlie 
passage  of  sucli  a  law.  That  committee,  of  which  I 
was  chairman,  included  George  H.  Shirley,  Rev. 
George  W.  Bourne,  John  T.  Walton,  of  Portland; 
Hon.  R.  M.  Goodenough,  of  Paris;  Col.  William  H. 
Morse,  of  Brunswick;  Rev.  J.  W.  Pitcher,  of  Gardi- 
ner; H.  K.  Baker,  of  Hallo  well;  J.  Hockey,  of 
Freedom  and  Hon.  Moses  McDonald,  of  Limerick. 
The  latter  was  then  speaker  of  the  house  of  represen- 
tatives, and  subsequently  a  member  of  Congress. 

The  committee  was  granted  a  hearing  in  Represen- 
tatives' Hall,  which  was  crowded  to  repletion  with 
members  of  the  legislature  and  others  gathered  to 
listen  to  the  arguments  in  favor  of  a  law  such  as  the 
friends  of  temperance  desired.  This  hearing  had 
nnich  to  do  with  the  enactment  by  the  next  legisla- 
ture of  what  was  known  as  "The  law  of  1846,"  the 
first  prohibitory  statute  enacted  in  the  state. 

At  the  ninth  annual  meeting,  which  assembled  at 
Augusta  on  June  24th,  1846,  it  was  apparent  that 
the  growth  of  sentiment  in  the  state  in  favor  of 
Prohibition  had  been  great  during  the  preceding  year. 
The  resolutions  took  strong  ground  in  favor  of  the 
legal  suppression  of*  the  liquor-traffic,  and  it  was 
voted  that  "  General  Appleton,  Neal  Dow  and  John  T. 
Walton  be  reci  nested  to  appear  before  the  legislative 
committee  on  license  laws  to  represent  the  views  and 
wishes  of  the  thousands  of  our  state  who  have  asked 
by  their  petitions  the  passage  of  a  law  which  shall 
effectually  close  up  the  drinking  houses  and  tippling 
shops."     The  resolution   referred  to  a  bill  General 


OF    NEAL    DjOW.  261 

Appletoii  had  prepared,  and  which  was  subsequently 
enacted,  after  being  subjected  to  many  amendments 
in  the  course  of  its  consideration  by  the  committee. 

While  I  was  speaking  before  the  legislative  commit- 
tee in  favor  of  the  bill,  a  petition,  fifty-nine  feet  in 
length,  containing  the  names  of  3,800  citizens  of 
Portland,  was  festooned  over  the  speaker's  chair  in 
the  house  of  representatives.  Many  of  the  names  to 
that  petition  had  been  secured  by  my  wife,  whose  zeal 
in  behalf  of  temperance  was  limited  only  by  her 
strength  and  the  time  she  could  spare  from  the  care  of 
her  family.  Those  who  cared  nothing  for  the  words 
in  which  the  passage  of  the  bill  was  urged  w^ere  not 
indifferent  to  the  forcible  appeal  of  that  request,  one 
of  a  large  number  from  all  parts  of  the  state  presented 
to  the  legislature  for  the  same  object.  Judge  Nathan 
Weston  appeared  before  the  committee  and  made  a 
long  and  able  speech  in  opposition  to  the  request 
of  the  petitioners.  The  bill  was  passed,  however,  by 
a  vote  of  eighty-one  to  forty-two  in  the  house,  and 
twenty-three  to  five  in  the  senate,  and  was  approved 
by  Governor  Anderson,  August  7,  1846.  Referring  to 
this  law,  I  wrote  immediately  after  its  enactment  to 
the  Journal  of  the  American  Temperance  Union  that 
it  constituted  ' '  the  first  blow  only  which  the  friends 
of  temperance  here  propose  striking  at  the  trafiic  in 
strong  drinks. "  Ten  years  afterward,  w^hen  Lot  M. 
Morrill,  in  the  legislature  of  1856,  was  protesting 
against  the  repeal  of  the  law  of  1851,  he  referred  to 
this  act  of  1846  and  said  that  "it  placed  Maine  in  the 
very  front  ranks  of  the  movement  against  the  liquor- 
traffic." 

In  the  next  three  annual  meetings  of  the  Union,  no 
special  action  was  taken  other  than  to  endorse  the  law 

18 


262  REMINISCENCES 

of  184G,  to  urge  upon  officials  its  vigorous  enforce- 
ment, and  to  recommend  changes  in  some  particulars 
to  make  it  more  effective. 

The  law  was  now  such  in  principle  as  to  excite  most 
virulent  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  liquor-interest, 
not  only  to  all  such  legislation  but  to  those  who  had 
been  active  in  securing  it,  and  were  now  engaged  in 
efforts  to  enforce  it.  It  had  been  difficult  to  secure 
the  enforcement  of  the  old-time  license  laws  of  the 
state.  Over  and  through  and  under  and  around  their 
restrictive  provisions  the  traffic  had  continued  its 
demoralizing  and  destructive  work.  If  by  any  chance 
a  person  selling  without  license  was  so  subjected  to 
the  penalties  of  the  law  as  to  lead  him  to  abandon  the 
trade,  the  inviting  doors  of  the  authorized  vendors 
made  room  for  his  customers.  If  one  licensed  seller 
was  brought  to  the  bar  for  violating  any  of  the 
restrictive  regulations,  all  made  common  cause  in  his 
behalf. 

As  long  as  the  law  recognized  the  trade  as  useful, 
necessary,  and  legitimate,  those  engaged  in  it  cared 
little  for  its  restraining  clauses.  The  license  was 
more  potent  in  swelling  the  number  of  their  patrons 
and  the  sum  of  their  gains  than  the  restrictions  were 
in  protecting  the  people  from  the  evils  inseparable 
from  the  business.  Now,  however,  under  the  law  of 
184<),  matters  were  different.  Now  the  trade  began  to 
show  its  teeth.  The  time  had  come  when  the  fire  was 
the  hottest,  the  danger  the  greatest,  and  only  the  moat 
determined  and  courageous  kept  on.  This  was  mani- 
fest in  the  absence  from  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
Union  in  1^^47,  1848  and  1849,  of  some  of  its  former 
supporters.  They  liad  little  taste  for  the  kind  of 
warfare  now  forced  upon  them,  and  perhaps,  as  to 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  263 

some  of  them,  grave  fears  as  to  what  the  outcome 
politically  might  be  to  themselves  or  their  party. 

The  vacancies,  however,  were  filled  by  others,  who, 
though  younger,  less  widely  known,  and  lacking  in 
the  prestige  and  influence  of  those  whose  places  they 
took,  had  all  the  zeal,  persistency,  and  courage, 
demanded  at  that  stage  of  the  movement.  But  there 
were  yet  to  be  found  some  of  the  old  leaders.  The 
calm,  cool  courage,  the  earnest,  unabated  devotion  of 
Appleton,  were  yet  at  the  service  of  the  cause.  The 
venerable  Samuel  Fessenden  was,  as  always,  to  be 
relied  upon,  and  the  devotion  of  such  men,  trained  in 
the  school  of  the  antislavery  reform  to  cherish  the 
courage  of  their  convictions  as  a  priceless  treasure, 
was  a  tower  of  strength  at  this  crisis  of  the  movement. 

In  1849,  a  law  was  enacted  which  punished  by 
imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  any  person  not 
licensed  who  should  sell  or  expose  for  sale  during 
the  continuance  of  any  cattle-show  or  fair  any  intoxi- 
cating drink  within  two  miles  thereof.  This  is  the 
first  instance  in  the  legislation  of  the  state  where 
imprisonment  was  imposed  as  a  penalty  for  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors. 

In  1850,  penalties  for  the  violation  of  the  law  were 
very  much  increased.  Where  they  were,  originally, 
for  selling  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  law, 
fixed  at  not  less  than  one,  nor  more  than  twenty 
dollars,  they  were,  this  year,  increased  to  not  less 
than  twenty,  nor  more  than  three  hundred  dollars, 
or  imprisonment  not  less  than  thirty  days  nor  more 
than  six  months. 

The  last  annual  meeting  of  the  Union  was  held  in 
Augusta  on  the  seventh  of  August,  1850.  I  was 
elected  president.     By  this  time  the  great  body  of  the 


'2('A  REMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL   DOW. 

active  temperance  men  of  the  state  were  tliorouglily 
committed  to  tlie  principles  of  Prohibition,  and  at  the 
request  of  the  convention  I  appeared  before  a  legisla- 
tive committee  to  urge  its  adoption.  This  will  be 
referred  to  later.  The  Union  never  assembled  again. 
The  object  which  for  some  time  its  leading  spirits  had 
had  in  view  was  the  next  year  attained,  and  it  gave 
way  to  other  forms  of  work.  For  its  annual  meetings, 
mass  state  conventions  were  substituted,  which  for  a 
few  years  following  1851  became  from  force  of  circum- 
stances somewhat  political  in  character.  Ordinarily 
during  this  period  a  convention  was  held  at  Augusta 
in  the  winter,  and  as  occasion  seemed  to  call  at  other 
seasons  of  the  year  at  different  points  in  the  state. 
They  were  useful  in  maintaining  a  public  sentiment 
and  in  stimulating  various  kinds  of  reformatory  effort 
throughout  Maine. 


GKiN.    Ja.mks   AI'PI.ETON. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE    WORK    OF    CHANGING    PUBLIC     SENTIMENT.        PROGEESS 

IN    PORTLAND.        THE   WASHINGTONIAN   MOVEMENT. 

FIRST     POPULAR     VOTE     ON     LICENSE. 

METHODS   AND   INCIDENTS. 


It  was  not  long  after  the  policy  of  Prohibition  had 
been  suggested  that  I  became  satisfied,  if  indeed  I 
had  ever  doubted,  that  it  was  reasonable  and  right. 
I  had  read,  with  the  interest  they  were  sure  to  excite 
in  any  one  who  had  considered  the  general  subject, 
several  able  articles  in  favor  of  Prohibition,  which 
General  James  Appleton  had  contributed  in  1832  to 
the  columns  of  the  Salem  Gazette.  The  ground  he 
then  covered  is  familiar  to  every  friend  of  temper- 
ance. 

Nearly  sixty  years  have  elapsed  since  General 
Appleton  took  a  position  so  opposed  to  habits,  opin- 
ions, and  prejudices  of  the  day  that  it  testified  to  his 
possession  of  a  moral  courage  that  may  fairly  be 
called  sublime.  In  1833,  General  Appleton  came  to 
Portland,  and  immediately  interested  himself  in 
reformatory  efforts.  We  became  at  once  good  friends, 
remaining  so  during  his  residence  of  twenty  years  in 
this  city. 


266  REMIXISCEXCES 

General  Appletoii  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  bravest 
of  those  connected  with  the  temperance  movement. 
He  never  shrank  from  the  hard  labor  it  involved,  nor 
flinched  under  the  blows  to  which  those  engaged  in  it 
were  exposed.  In  most  of  the  pitched  battles  in  our 
old  city  hall,  as  Avell  as  elsewhere,  he  was  to  be  found 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fray,  always  leading  toward 
closer  and  more  effective  fighting.  Wise  in  council, 
ready  and  able  in  debate,  and  courageous  in  bearing, 
his  influence  was  potential  in  all  matters  touching  the 
progress  of  the  cause  in  Maine. 

In  1837,  as  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  Port- 
land, and  chairman  on  the  part  of  the  house  of  the 
committee  on  license  laws.  General  Appleton  prepared 
and  presented  a  report,  freely  quoted  from  elsewhere, 
which,  as  the  first  declaration  in  this  state  of  an 
influential  character  in  favor  of  Prohibition,  as  well 
as  for  its  intrinsic  merit,  attracted  great  attention. 
It  was  widely  circulated  through  the  state,  and  had 
much  to  do  with  turning  the  attention  of  the  friends 
of  temperance  to  Prohibition  as  the  logical  object  of 
their  efforts. 

Having  been  thoroughly  aroused  to  the  nature  of  a 
trade  that  would  prompt  an  otherwise  respectable 
citizen  to  be  willing  to  work  a  ruin  like  that  impend- 
ing in  the  case  to  which  my  attention  was  specially 
called,  as  has  been  related,  I  was  easily  convinced 
that  duty  demanded  of  me  a  determined  and  persist- 
ent effort  to  assist  in  putting  the  liquor-traffic  under 
the  ban  of  public  opinion  and  to  antagonize  the  grog- 
shops with  the  strong  arm  of  the  law. 

I  did  not  commit  myself  blindly  to  the  policy,  nor 
without  due  consideration  of  the  sacrifices  involved 
in  devotion  to  it.     Nor  did  I  underestimate  the  labor 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  267 

necessary  to  accomplish  the  end  in  view.  If  only 
those  who  had  given  time  and  effort  to  the  promotion 
of  temperance  fully  comprehended  the  extent  of  the 
evil  they  desired  to  correct,  so  none  better  than  they 
could  appreciate  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the 
obstacles  to  be  overcome  before  they  would  be  able  to 
interpose  the  shield  of  law  between  society  and  the 
poisoned  darts  of  the  liquor-traffic. 

They  saw  avarice  and  appetite  in  the  way.  But 
civilization  had  made  its  entire  progress  by  surmount- 
ing one  form  or  another  of  these.  If  in  this  case  the 
aggregate  capital  interested  in  opposing  the  movement 
was  vast,  so  also  were  the  benefits  society  was  to  win 
through  success.  If  in  this  case  ignorance,  indo- 
lence, indifference,  and  varied  forms  of  human 
selfishness  were  to  be  found  in  the  opposing  ranks, 
this  did  not  lessen  in  any  degree,  in  the  estimation  of 
the  temperance  men  of  Maine,  the  great  value  and 
importance  of  what  they  sought  to  obtain.  To  secure 
this  great  good  for  the  people  and  the  state  they 
would  ask  of  none  sacrifices  Avhich  they  were  not 
prepared  to  make  themselves,  and  they,  had  faith 
enough  in  moral,  educational  and  religious  influences 
to  believe  that  no  reason  for  discouragement  could  be 
found  along  the  line  they  had  chosen. 

I  cannot  fix  the  exact  date  of  my  first  public  decla- 
ration in  favor  of  that  policy.  Looking  over  the 
manuscript  memoranda  of  some  of  my  earlier 
temperance  efforts,  by  chance  preserved,  I  find  an 
address  delivered  before  the  Portland  Temperance 
Society,  on  the  last  Tuesday  of  February,  1836.  In 
this  there  is  no  reference  to  Prohibition.  It  was 
confined  exclusively  to  an  appeal  to  "moderate 
drinkers  "  to  forego  that  indulgence  for  the  good  of 


268  REMINISCENCES 

others.  This  was  at  that  time  the  chief  bone  of 
contention  among  the  more  earnest  friends  of  the 
reform.  In  an  ' '  Address  on  Temperance,  delivered  at 
the  Mariner's  church,  September  24th,  1837,"  I  find 
among  other  references  to  Prohibition,  the  following: 

"  If  the  retailinir  of  ardent  spirits  could  1)e  prohibited 
throughout  the  United  States  at  once,  there  can  l)e  little 
doubt  that  their  consumption  would  l)c  reduced  one-half  at  a 

blow It  will  be,  in  fact,  assailing  the  enemy  in  the 

very  citadel  of  his  strength It  cannot  be  necessary  I 

am  sure,  to  go  into  a  formal  argument  to  show  that  the 
retailing  of  ardent  spirits  ought  to  be  prohibited." 

The  major  part  of  that  address,  also,  was  devoted  to 
impressing  upon  my  hearers  the  wisdom  and  reason- 
ableness of  total  abstinence. 

For  some  time  the  state  law  had  permitted  the 
selectmen  of  towns  and  aldermen  of  cities  to  refuse 
licenses  except  to  tavern-keepers,  unless  the  citizens 
should  vote  instructing  such  to  be  issued.  In  Port- 
land, our  efforts  were  in  the  first  instance  directed 
with  varying  success  to  urging  the  licensing  board  to 
refuse  licenses  in  every  case  where  the  law  would 
permit  them  to  be  withheld. 

It  is  not  strange,  under  the  circumstances,  though 
at  the  time  it  seemed  unreasonable  to  most  of  us  who 
were  endeavoring  to  induce  selectmen  and  aldermen 
to  adopt  that  course,  that  the  authorities  should 
hesitate  about  changing  a  system  which  had  obtained 
so  long.  The  friends  of  temperance,  though  numer- 
ous, were  far  from  united  upon  an  aggressive  policy, 
and  the  most  of  those  w^ho  really  wished  that  licenses 
should  be  withheld  were  not  unnaturally  disposed 
to  leave  the  trouble,  the  odium  and  the  danger  of 
securing  that  end  to  others. 


OP   NEAL    DOW.  269 

While,  therefore,  the  comparatively  small  number 
of  temperance  men  were  working  for  that  object,  the 
"conservative "  element,  holding  that  new  departures 
were  always  unsafe,  and  the  purely  business  interest, 
strangely  fancying  that  material  prosperity  was  to  be 
promoted  by  a  trade  that  thrives  upon  the  destruc- 
tion of  -  all  that  makes  for  such,  were  more  or  less 
openly,  but  generally  effectively,  aiding  the  avowed 
liquor  men  to  counteract  the  no-license  movement. 
The  selectmen  and  aldermen  were  made  to  believe 
that  public  opinion  demanded  license.  We  did  not 
think  so,  but  were  willing  that  the  test  should  be 
made.  We  rejoiced,  therefore,  when  an  opportunity 
was  afforded,  as  was  the  case  in  1839,  to  take  the 
question  to  the  people. 

The  voters  of  Portland  were  then  asked  to  pass 
upon  the  following  question,  submitted  to  them  by 
the  authorities: 

' '  Shall  the  aldermen  be  requested  to  decline  grant- 
ing licenses  for  retailing  spirituous  liquors  in  this 
city  ? " 

For  two  weeks  the  matter  was  discussed  in  numerous 
meetings.  At  most  of  these  I  was  one  of  the  speakers. 
As  it  was  the  first  opportunity  for  an  expression  of 
public  opinion  upon  the  subject,  the  community  was 
considerably  aroused  by  it.  When  the  ballots  were 
counted,  it  was  found  that  5(31  had  voted  yes,  and  599 
no.  The  opponents  of  license  were  defeated.  Their 
discomfiture,  however,  under  the  circumstances,  prom- 
ised well  for  the  future. 

On  the  day  of  the  balloting  I  was  at  the  polls  in  my 
ward  distributing  the  no-license  ballot.  Just  opposite 
me  in  the  passage  leading  to  the  ballot-box  stood  a 
well  known  liquor-seller,  who,  naturally  enough,  was 


270  REMINISCENCES 

offering  license  votes  to  all  who  approached  the  polls. 
One  of  his  customers,  a  hard-drinking  man  whom  I 
knew  well,  refused  the  license  vote  and  cast  the  no- 
license  ballot  which  he  received  from  me.  "Well," 
exclaimed  the  rumseller,  with  an  oath,  "you're  a 
pretty  fellow  to  be  voting  that  way  !  "  "Perhaps  so," 
replied  the  voter,  "but  you  see  I  have  had  enough  of 
your  rum,  and  you  have  had  too  much  of  my  money  ! " 
That  was  only  one  of  many  instances  disclosed  by  the 
struggle  of  intemperate  men  who  voted  to  have  temp- 
tations to  drink  put  out  of  their  way. 

The  question  of  whether  licenses  should  be  granted 
however,  was  a  practical  one  only  from  a  moral  and 
educational  point  of  view.  Liquor-selling  was  by  no 
means  confined  to  licensed  dealers.  Everybody  sold 
who  cared  to.  Only  the  "good  "  citizens  who  desired 
to  deal  in  it  took  the  trouble  to  obtain  the  legal  per- 
mission to  do  so.  Restrictive  clauses  of  the  law  were 
generally  disregarded  by  the  licensed  sellers,  while 
the  prohibitive  features  had  no  restraining  effect  upon 
those  who  could  not,  or  who  did  not  trouble  them- 
selves to,  obtain  licenses.  The  authorities  as  a  rule 
made  no  attempt  to  enforce  the  law  against  either 
class  of  violators.  Nevertheless,  we  believed  it  would 
be  of  immense  value  in  its  moral  effect  and  education- 
al inlluence  if  the  regularly  elected  representatives  of 
the  people  should  officially  declare  against  giving  the 
sanction  of  law  to  the  iniquitous  trade;  hence  the 
action  of  the  friends  of  temperance. 

Defeated,  but  not  discouraged,  in  their  first  pitched 
battle,  the  temperance  men  of  Portland  addressed 
themselves  to  preparation  for  another  assault  upon 
license,  deemed  by  them  the  stronghold  of  the  evil 
they    were    combating.     Temperance    societies    were 


or    NEAL    DOW.  271 

organized  in  every  ward;  under  their  auspices  meetings 
were  held,  addressed  not  only  by  our  local  speakers, 
including  clergymen,  but  by  agents  of  the  Maine 
Temperance  Union.  A  house-to-house  canvass  was 
instituted,  the  total  abstinence  pledge  was  presented, 
and  every  person  who  could  be  reached  without  an 
unreasonable  amount  of  trouble  was  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  sign  it. 

I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  testify  from  my  own 
personal  knowledge  that  many  consented  to  what 
they  deemed  a  personal  sacrifice  in  taking  that 
pledge,  giving  their  adhesion  to  it  because  they 
believed  that  in  setting  such  an  example  they  could 
benefit  others.  But  we  found  in  the  contest  in  those 
days,  what  was  the  case  before  and  has  been  since — a 
great  many  of  the  professed  friends  of  virtue  standing 
aside,  unwilling  to  engage  in  the  conflict  lest  they 
should  suffer  some  damage  in  the  fray,  while  the 
intemperate,  the  dissolute,  profligate  and  abandoned 
part  of  the  community  made  common  cause,  and, 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  resisted  every  attempt  to  sup- 
press vice  and  promote  virtue,  under  whatever  form 
the  effort  was  made.  To  carry  on  the  work  inaugu- 
rated required  great  sacrifice  of  time  and  much 
self-denial  on  the  part  of  those  who  engaged  in  it. 
Comparatively  few  could  be  found  who  deemed  it 
their  duty  to  take  part;  but  about  this  time  strong 
reinforcements  were  brought  into  the  field. 

In  the  spring  of  1841,  the  influence  of  the  Washing- 
tonian  reform  reached  Portland.  The  story  of  this 
great  awakening  has  been  frequently  and  variously 
told.  It  originated  in  Baltimore,  in  1840,  where  a  few 
working-men,  five  or  six  of  them  at  most,  all  hard 
drinkers,    suddenly   resolved,    without    any    outside 


272  KEMINISCEXCES 

inflnence,  tliat  they  ^YOul(l  abstain  entirely  from  all 
intoxicating  drinks. 

That  movement  foreshadoTved  the  great  contest 
then  abont  to  begin  between  those  on  one  side,  who, 
in  the  interest  of  their  own  health,  happiness  and 
usefulness,  and  in  that  of  their  fellow-men,  were  to 
forswear  and  to  oppose  intemperance  and  all  that 
should  tend  to  it,  and  those  on  the  other,  who,  for 
the  pelf  that  came  to  them  through  the  trade  thriving 
on  intemperance,  were  to  antagonize  the  reform  at  its 
every  stage.  On  the  one  side  were  rallied  in  due  time 
thoughtful  and  conscientious  sympathizers  with  the 
higher  aspirations  of  the  race,  while  the  other  re- 
tained the  assistance  only  of  those  who  did  nothing 
and  cared  nothing  for  the  welfare  of  mankind,  so  far, 
at  least,  as  that  welfare  was  to  be  served  by  sacrifice 
and  lal^or  in  the  cause  of  temperance. 

The  rumor  of  this  sudden  and  strange  conversion 
soon  spread  throughout  the  country.  A  delegation 
from  Baltimore  was  invited  to  New  York,  where  an  im- 
mense open-air  meeting  was  held  in  Union  Park,  full 
reports  of  which  were  spread  everywhere  through  the 
press.  That  meeting  created  a  strong  feeling  through- 
out the  country  for  the  reformation  of  drinking  men. 
After  the  New  York  effort,  a  successful  attempt  of 
the  same  kind  was  made  in  Portland,  in  May,  1841. 
Some  working-men,  friendly  to  temperance,  gladly 
engaged  in  the  undertaking.  In  accordance  with  a 
carefully  prepared  plan  they  invited  many  men  of 
their  ac(|uaintance  to  come  at  a  specified  time  to  a 
room  I  occupied  in  my  capacity  as  chief  engineer. 
At  this  meeting  were  present  about  fifty  persons, 
nearly  half  of  them  being  what  were  called  "hard 
cases." 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  273 

The  discussion  among  temperance  men,  as  lias  been 
seen,  had  already  reached  a  point  where  attacks  upon 
the  liquor-traffic  were  not  uncommon  in  their  meet- 
ings. A  strong  prejudice  against  everything  of  the 
kind  existed  among  those  who  were  not  prepared  to 
accept  this  phase  of  the  gospel  of  reform.  Accord- 
ingly, at  this  gathering,  great  care  was  taken  not  to 
alarm,  by  any  suggestion  of  legal  measures  against 
the  traffic,  the  men  whom  it  was  hoped  to  enlist  as 
Washingtonians.  There  was  nothing  radical  in  the 
talk,  nor  in  the  methods  recommended;  everything 
said  and  done  was  in  the  line  of  so-called  "moral 
suasion."  The  rumshops  were  not  alluded  to,  nor 
was  there  in  any  talk  an  intimation  that  rumsellers 
were  enemies  of  society,  and  especially  of  working- 
men,  but  an  attempt  was  made  to  convince  those 
poor  men  that  their  drinking  habits  wasted  their 
wages  and  seriously  impaired  their  health,  and  to 
show  them  the  inevitable  suffering  thereby  entailed 
upon  their  families  and  the  certain  destruction  of  all 
that  would  otherwise  make  their  homes  happy. 

This  meeting  was  successful  beyond  our  expecta- 
tions. Twenty-five  of  the  drinking  men  present 
signed  the  pledge,  already  prepared  for  presentation, 
of  total  abstinence  for  life  from  all  intoxicating 
drinks.  There  was  a  unanimous  vote  that  the  meet- 
ings should  be  continued,  and  those  present  promised 
to  exert  themselves  to  invite  others  to  attend. 

One  of  the  men  who  signed  the  pledge  at  this  first 
meeting  soon  became  a  devout  Christian.  A  few 
years  after,  I  was  able  to  procure  his  appointment 
to  the  city  watch,  as  the  police  was  then  called.  He 
retained  his  place,  I  think,  uninterruptedly  for  many 
years.     In  time,  however,  he  became  too  infirm  for 


274  EEMINISCENCES 

active  police  duty,  and  was  notified  that  liis  services 
would  be  dispensed  with  at  the  close  of  the  month. 
That  fact  was  brought  to  my  attention  by  a  news- 
paper man  who  came  to  my  house  one  morning  and 
told  me  that  the  night  before  he  overheard  this  old 
man  praying  in  the  police  station  for  help  in  the 
enforced  idleness  of  his  declining  years.  I  made  it 
my  business  to  call  on  the  mayor  that  forenoon,  and 
obtained  a  promise,  as  a  favor  to  myself,  that  the 
faithful  old  city  servant  should  be  retained  in  some 
position  the  duties  of  which  he  could  perform.  The 
promise  was  redeemed,  and  my  reformed  man  of  the 
early  forties  died  only  a  few  years  since  with  the  har- 
ness on. 

The  next  meeting  was  filled  to  overflowing.  Then 
those  who  had  started  the  movement  retired  and  left 
the  work  to  the  new  converts.  John  Hawkins,  of 
Baltimore,  was  invited  to  Portland,  and  the  meetings 
arranged  for  him  in  the  churches  were  always 
crowded  to  the  utmost  capacity,  intensifying  the 
interest  in  the  saving  of  drinking  men,  and  in  general 
efforts  in  behalf  of  abstinence. 

From  Portland,  Washingtonianism  spread  through- 
out the  state,  so  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
population  was  brought  under  its  influence.  Mem- 
bers of  the  Portland  society  were  active  in  attending 
meetings  as  missionaries  in  almost  every  part  of 
Maine.  During  the  progress  of  this  revival  my  time 
was  much  given  to  the  work.  Some  weeks  I  spoke  at 
as  many  as  ten  meetings,  responding  whenever  it  was 
Ijossible  to  every  call.  A  general  revival  of  interest 
in  the  temperance  cause  followed,  with  the  reforma- 
tion of  many  intemperate  men.  The  Washingtonian 
society,  as  it  was  called,  held  its  meetings  for  years, 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  275 

and  tliousands  signed  ite  pledge.  It  may  not  be 
without  its  lesson  for  me  to  state  in  passing  that,  of 
all  the  converts  who  remained  faithful  to  the  total 
abstinence  pledge  of  the  Washingtonians,  I  do  not 
remember  one  who  did  not  in  time  become  an  earnest 
friend  of  Prohibition. 

Much  of  modern  antagonism  to  Prohibition  covers 
its  real  purpose  —  support  of  the  liquor-traffic  —  by 
parading  professions  of  great  confidence  in  what  it 
terms  "moral  influences,"  and  not  infrequently  cites 
the  Washingtonian  reformation  by  way  of  illustra- 
tion. Yet  that  reform  was  a  most  effective  agency  in 
securing  anti-liquor-selling  legislation  in  Maine.  In 
the  city  of  Portland  alone,  within  a  year  of  its 
organization,  that  society  numbered  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  twenty -five,  of  whom  it  was  esti- 
mated at  the  time,  that  at  least  one  thousand  had, 
before  taking  the  pledge,  diverted  of  their  small, 
hard-earned  wages,  on  an  average,  about  twelve 
cents  a  day  from  the  support  of  their  families  to 
provide  themselves  with  drink.  That  aggregated  a 
considerable  sum  for  so  small  a  city  as  Portland  then 
was  to  expend  for  that  which  served  no  useful  pur- 
pose, and  which  reduced  to  a  large,  if  not  exactly 
ascertainable  per  cent,  the  earning  capacity  of  those 
who  purchased  it.  The  effect  of  stopping  this  leakage 
from  the  pockets  of  the  working-men  into  the  tills  of 
the  liquor-seller  resulted  in  an  increase  of  the  receipts 
of  dealers  in  family  supplies  larger  than  was  the  re- 
duction of  the  sums  paid  for  liquor;  this  was  because 
with  the  abandonment  of  drink  the  working-men 
could  earn  more  money,  which,  added  to  that  no 
longer  expended  for  rum,  was  available  for  the  com- 
forts of  life. 


276  REMINISCEKCES 

The  friends  of  temperance  were  not  backward  in 
using  these  facts  to  show  that  the  less  the  sale  of 
liciuor  the  greater  the  prosperity  of  the  community, 
and  to  argue  if  there  were  no  liquor-shops  every 
legitimate  business  would  be  improved.  The  step, 
tlierefore,  Avas  easy,  natural,  and  logical  toward  con- 
demnation of  the  liquor  trade  by  law.  Right  here 
the  friends  of  the  Washingtonian  movement  were 
confronted  by  the  same  kind  of  charges,  concocted  by 
the  liquor-dealers,  so  commonly  in  later  days  applied 
to  Prohibition.  Here  are  some  of  them:  "The 
Washingtonian  movement  does  no  good. "  ' '  Just  as 
much  liciuor  is  drunk  now  as  ever."  "More  rum  is 
sold  now  than  formerly."  "These  fellows  (pledged 
Washingtonians)  may  not  drink  as  publicly  as  before, 
but  they  keep  their  supplies  at  home,  drink  in  private, 
and  consume  more  than  ever. " 

To  refute  such  statements  in  order  that  men  might 
not  be  discouraged  in  well-doing,  and  that  the  Wash- 
ingtonian reform  might  receive  the  sympathy  and 
support  of  considerate  citizens,  I  interested  myself 
with  others  in  collecting  statistics  to  show  that  these 
assertions  of  the  liquor-interest  as  to  the  inutility  of 
the  Washingtonian  reform  were  unfounded,  and  was 
able  to  satisfy  the  citizens  of  Portland  that  so  much 
good  had  been  accomplished  by  tliat  reform  that  it 
was  entitled  to  the  countenance  and  support  of 
citizens  who  were  interested  in  the  material  pros- 
perity of  the  place,  if  they  cared  nothing  for  the 
moral  aspects  of  the  case.  That  reform,  as  I  have 
said,  tended  inevitably  and  logically  toward  Prohibi- 
tion, because  the  greater  the  attention  given  to  the 
evils  of  intemperance,  and  the  closer  the  examination 
of  the  connection  of  the  liquor-traffic  with  those  evils, 


John  T.  Waltox. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  277 

the  greater  the  certainty  of  a  conclusion  that  the 
trade  in  intoxicants  is  inimical  to  the  public  good  and 
ought  not  to  be  tolerated. 

In  August,  1841,  following  the  inauguration  of  the 
Washingtonian  movement  in  Portland,  a  "Young 
Men's  Total  Abstinence  Society"  was  organized. 
This  was  intended  to  enlist  some  who,  for  the  sake 
of  their  influence  for  good  upon  others,  were  willing 
to  subscribe  to  a  pledge  they  did  not  deem  necessary 
to  take  in  their  own  behalf.  A  praiseworthy  example ! 
Like  the  Washingtonian  movement,  this  society  had 
its  inception  in  the  fire-department,  and  it  included 
many  of  the  members  of  that  body.  Its  officers  were 
all  firemen,  well  known,  reputable,  and  influential 
young  men.  Its  president  was  Franklin  C.  Moody, 
afterwards  a  chief  engineer  of  the  department;  its 
corresponding  secretary  was  Jedediah  Jewett.  and 
its  treasurer,  William  Senter,  each  of  whom  was  sub- 
sequently mayor  of  Portland.  The  society  was  not 
long-lived,  but  it  was  most  serviceable  in  its  time; 
indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  limit  the  extent  or  the  duration 
of  the  influence  for  good  of  that  movement,  much  more 
of  a  body  of  men  who,  with  Saint  Paul,  forswear 
whatever  makes  a  brother  to  offend. 

I  was  not  a  member  of  this  society,  but  took  an 
interest  in  inducing  young  men  to  become  connected 
with  it.  I  recall  an  instance  of  two  young  mechanics, 
working  at  the  same  trade  and  at  the  same  bench, 
apparently  with  equal  opportunities  for  advance  in 
life.  Both  were  in  the  habit  of  drinking  occasion- 
ally, neither  of  them  to  excess.  Favorable  oppor- 
tunity serving  one  day,  I  called  the  attention  of  both 
at  the  same  time  to  this  society,  and  advised  them  to 
join.     After  some  discussion,  one  consented  and  the 


278  REMINISCENCES 

other  refused,  preferring  to  retain  liis  "liberty." 
Circumstances  were  such  that  for  several  years  I 
was  able  to  know  something-  of  the  progress  each  was 
making  in  his  chosen  direction.  The  one  went 
constantly  downward,  until,  after  some  years  of 
dependence  upon  others  for  support,  he  died,  a 
pauper.  The  other,  after  a  time,  went  into  business 
for  himself,  in  which  he  is  yet  engaged,*  and  has 
accumulated  a  handsome  property. 

But  the  inlluence  of  the  laws  which  in  those  days 
recognized  the  liquor-traffic  as  a  useful  and  respecta- 
ble trade,  was  ill.  Several  of  the  young  men  who 
joined  that  society  failed  to  keep  their  pledge;  some 
of  theui  went  to  the  bad,  undoubtedly  influencing 
others  in  the  same  direction,  while  still  others  became 
interested  in  the  liquor-traffic.  It  could  hardly  be 
otherwise  with  legislation  holding  the  liquor-business 
to  be  a  useful  adjunct  of  society  and  its  patrons  as 
helping  to  maintain  what  the  laws  pronounced  good. 

Washingtonianism  proved  a  potent  factor  in  the 
next  set  contest  at  the  polls  between  the  friends  and 
opponents  of  the  liquor-traffic.  This  occurred  in 
1842.  In  May  of  that  year,  I  presented  to  the  board 
of  aldermen  a  petition,  numerously  signed,  asking 
that  no  licenses  should  be  granted  for  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors.  Thereui)on  the  board,  upon 
motion  of  General  Appleton,  adopted  the  following: 

"Resolved,  That  the  public  good  does  not  require  that 
any  person  should  ])e  licensed  to  sell  intoxieatinu'  drinks  in 
the  city  of  Porthuid,  during  the  ensuing  year,  and  tlial  this 
board  does  not  deem  it  necessary  to  license  any  person  for 
that  purpose." 

Accordingly  the  numerous  aijplicants  for   licenses 
were  denied  a  hearing  and  no  licenses  were  gi*anted. 
*  Since  deceased. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  279 

The  sale  of  liquor,  however,  went  on,  without  regard 
to  the  action  of  the  board.  The  authorities,  unaccus- 
tomed to  i)aying  attention  to  violations  of  the  liquor 
law,  took  no  steps  to  impose  the  penalties  provided 
for  those  who  should  sell  without  license.  Co-operat- 
ing with  other  friends  of  the  cause,  I  made  frecjuent 
and  urgent  appeals  to  the  mayor  and  to  members 
of  the  board  of  aldermen,  as  well  as  to  the  sheriff  of 
the  county  and  to  the  county  attorney,  to  enforce 
the  law.  I  must  have  made  myself  very  annoying  to 
them,  and  with  but  little  effect.  They  generally 
excused  themselves  with  the  plea  —  the  ready  defense 
of  neglectful  officials,  always  and  everywhere  —  that 
the  people  did  not  wish  the  law  enforced.  The  real 
idea  concealed  in  that  phrase  could  have  been  ren- 
dered by  the  words,  ' '  We  are  afraid  that  we  shall  lose 
our  offices  if  we  enforce  the  law. " 

In  the  fall  of  that  year,  the  aldermen  were  induced 
to  ascertain  for  themselves  whether  the  public  desired 
the  enforcement  of  the  law.  They  submitted  the 
matter  to  the  voters  of  the  city  in  the  following  form  : 

"  Shall  the  unlicensed  and  unlawful  traffic  in  spirituous 
liquors  be  countenanced  and  sustained  in  this  city  or  not?" 

Again  there  was  a  tangible  point  which  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  liquor  trade  could  labor  to  attain,  A 
"  no  "  vote  wou-ld  mean,  it  was  understood,  that  the 
laws  were  to  be  enforced;  a  "yes  "  that  they  were  to 
be  ignored.  The  temperance  men  held  meetings  and 
resorted  to  other  legitimate  agencies  to  secure  as 
strong  an  expression  as  possible  in  favor  of  enforce- 
ment. I  prepared  an  address  to  the  citizens  which 
was  published  and  circulated  through  the  city.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  friends  of  the  trade,  if  less  open 
and  frank  in  their  work,  were  active  in  various  ways. 


280  REMmiSCENCES 

The  vote   resulted:    For  permitting  the  traffic,   498; 
against  it,  943. 

Growing  out  of  the  refusal  to  license  was  a  petition 
from  a  well-known  business  house,  occupying  a  store 
owned  by  the  city,  addressed  to  the  mayor  and 
aldermen.     The  petitioners  stated: 

"  On  taking  the  store  it  was  fully  understood  by  all  parties 
that  ardent  spirits  composed  a  large  share  of  their  (the  les- 
sees') business,  and  that  iu  consideration  of  the  high  rent 
paid  the  board  was  bound  to  protect  them  in  their  traffic  in 
ardent  spirits." 

This  petition  was  referred  to  a  special  committee 
which  had  a  hearing  upon  it.  The  main  object  of  the 
petition  was  to  make  it  appear  to  the  tax-payers  that 
the  city  would  suffer  pecuniarily  by  the  refusal  to 
grant  licenses.  I  appeared  to  present  the  temperance 
view  of  the  matter.  In  its  report,  the  committee 
referred  to  the  vote  of  the  board  of  aldermen  before 
quoted  to  the  effect  that  the  public  good  did  not 
require  that  licenses  should  be  granted,  and  recom- 
mended tliat  no  further  action  be  taken  upon  the 
communication. 

Again  in  1843,  the  aldermen,  at  the  instance  of  the 
friends  of  temperance,  adopted  a  similar  resolution. 
As  usual,  no  attention  was  paid  to  this,  and  the 
former  licensed  li(|Uor-dealers,  as  well  as  many  others, 
continued  to  sell  with  no  interference  upon  the  part 
of  the  officials.  Accordingly  we  engaged  once  more 
in  the  preparation  and  circulation  of  petitions, 
addressed  to  the  board  of  mayor  and  aldermen, 
requesting  the  prosecution  of  persons  violating  all 
license  laws;  whereupon  the  board  unanimously  voted 
that  such  prosecutions  should  be  commenced. 

By  this  time,   a   "public  sentiment"    against    the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  281 

liquor-traffic  had  been  in  one  way  or  another  unmis- 
takably manifested  but  it  was  with  great  difficulty 
that  the  officers  whose  duty  it  was  could  be  induced 
to  take  effective  measures  for  the  prosecution  of 
violators  of  the  law.  Objection  after  objection  was 
urged.  "It  was  difficult  to  obtain  evidence,"  they 
said.  We  secured  sufficient  proof.  Upon  this 
they  urged  that  evidence  procured  in  that  way, 
by  those  with  an  evident  bias  against  the  traffic, 
would  not  answer,  that  juries  would  not  convict  on 
such.  Then  we  went  before  the  board  of  mayor  and 
aldermen  and  secured  the  passage  of  an  order  offering 
a  reward  for  information  leading  to  the  conviction  of 
persons  violating  the  license  law.  Then  petitions, 
numerously  signed  by  women,  were  i)resented  to  the 
board,  praying  for  the  suppression  of  the  traffic.  The 
reward  offered  by  the  city  council  was  confined  to 
evidence  of  the  sale  of  liquors  upon  the  Sabbath. 
The  petition  of  the  women  asked  that  it  might  be 
made  applicable  to  all  violations  of  the  law,  and  that 
it  be  increased  in  amount. 

By  most  strenuous  exertions  on  the  part  of  the 
friends  of  temperance,  to  which  I  endeavored  to  con- 
tribute a  part,  it  was  now  possible  to  secure  from  the 
proper  officials  some  attention  to  the  violation  of  the 
license  law,  but  even  after  conviction  had  been 
secured  the  penalties  provided,  trifling  as  they  were, 
were  rarely  imposed.  There  were  reasons,  as  indefi- 
nite in  purpose  as  in  number,  for  suspending  them. 
When  all  other  subterfuges  proved  unavailing,  the 
liquor-dealer  would,  as  a  last  resort,  through  his 
counsel,  plead  that  since  the  date  of  the  offense  of 
which  he  was  convicted,  he  had  abandoned  the  busi- 
ness.    This  was  generally,  I  must  not  say,  invariably, 


282  REMINISCENCES 

false.  I  personally  investigated  a  number  of  such 
cases,  and  in  no  instance  could  I  find  any  evidence 
about  the  premises  of  the  respondent  that  gave  any 
indication  of  the  truth  of  such  a  plea. 

I  was  in  court  one  day  when  a  liquor  case  was  on, 
the  chief-justice  presiding.  The  counsel  for  the 
defense  moved  the  discharge  of  the  respondent 
because  he  had  been  assured  by  him  that  he  had 
abandoned  the  business  and  would  sell  no  more. 
' '  What  have  you  to  say  to  this  ? "  asked  the  judge  of 
the  county  attorney.  "I  interpose  no  objection, 
your  Honor, "  replied  that  official,  and  the  discharge 
was  granted.  I  immediately  left  the  court  room  and 
went  directly  to  the  tavern  kept  by  the  respondent 
and  there  saw  him  behind  the  bar  selling  liquor. 
This  was  less  than  fifteen  minutes  after  his  attorney 
had  pledged  his  word  in  court  that  he  would  sell  no 
more.  The  attorney  in  this  case  had  made  that 
pledge  honestly,  under  instructions  from  his  client. 
I  called  his  attention  to  the  matter  afterwards,  telling 
him  what  I  had  seen.  He  was  indignant  at  being 
thus  imposed  upon,  and  told  me  that  he  would  never 
again  appear  in  court  for  that  man.  That  attorney 
was  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  afterwards  so  prominent 
in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

Every  year,  from  the  commencement  of  the  agita- 
tion to  1851,  when  the  Maine  Law  went  into  effect, 
the  subject  was  under  consideration  in  one  form  or 
another  by  the  board  of  mayor  and  aldermen.  The 
friends  of  temperance  were  generally  successful  in 
obtaining  what  they  asked,  always  excepting  the 
enforcement  of  the  penalties  provided  for  those  who 
violated  the  law  and  sold  without  licenses,  which 
were  withheld  during    the  last    few    years  of    that 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  283 

period,  except  for  the  sale  of  liquors  for  medicinal 
and  meclianical  purposes.  It  was  rarely  tliat  tlie 
advocates  of  license  could  control  more  than  one  vote, 
or  at  most  two,  out  of  the  seven  in  the  board  of 
aldermen  on  any  question  coming  before  that  body. 

The  specific  penalties  for  the  violation  of  the  law 
were  generally  so  small,  that  fear  of  them,  even  were 
they  imposed,  had  but  little  restraining  effect,  but  a 
bond  of  one  thousand  dollars  was  required,  during  a 
portion  of  this  period,  of  licensed  liquor-dealers, 
conditioned  upon  their  observing  in  all  things  the 
requirements  of  the  law.  Failing  in  other  particulars, 
earnest  temperance  men  would  occasionally  procure 
evidence,  and  lay  it  before  the  licensing  board,  of 
violations  of  the  conditions  of  these  bonds,  and  urge 
the  forfeiture  of  the  penalty  of  the  bond  as  well  as  the 
cancellation  of  the  license.  They  were  rarely  success- 
ful in  this.  I  recall  no  instance  of  their  securing  a 
majority  vote  of  the  board,  and  I  think  it  fair  to 
assume  that  their  evidence  was  either  insufficient  in 
amount  or  not  effectively  presented. 

In  1845,  the  city  council  adopted  by  a  large  majority 
resolutions  instructing  the  representatives  of  the  city 
in  the  legislature  to  favor  a  law,  whereby  the  traffic 
might  be  speedily  and  effectually  suppressed,  and 
from  that  time  the  action  of  the  city  government 
in  the  matter  of  votes  and  resolutions  at  least,  was,  I 
think,  without  exception,  in  accord  with  the  wishes  of 
the  friends  of  temperance. 

During  all  this. time,  also,  more  or  less  systematic 
efforts  in  the  so-called  ' '  purely  moral "  phases  of  the 
reform  were  in  process.  One  of  the  most  trying 
duties  with  which  the  temperance  men  found  them- 
selves charged  was  the  investigation  of   individual 


284  KEMINISCENCES 

cases  of  misery  and  want,  of  abuse  and  wrong,  due  to 
intemperance,  to  which  their  attention  was  called. 
They  were  constantly  appealed  to  in  such  cases  for 
assistance,  and  to  render  that  wisely  and  well  careful 
inquiry  into  all  the  circumstances  was  necessary. 

Many,  if  not  most,  of  these  abodes  of  misery  were  in 
the  vicinage  of  places  where  liquor  was  sold.  That 
was  to  be  expected.  Just  as  the  smoke  issuing  from 
the  chimney  of  a  factory  settles  upon  and  to  an  extent 
blackens  everything  in  the  neighborhood,  so,  though 
the  emanations  from  these  moral  pest-houses  were  to 
be  traced  far  and  near,  they  were  generally  more 
dense,  if  not  blacker,  in  their  immediate  proximity. 
Hence  those  engaged  in  this  work  of  charitable 
investigation  were  observed  and  known  to  those 
whose  frightful  trade  made  charity  necessary. 

Efforts  in  this  direction  were  obnoxious  to  the 
vendors  of  intoxicants.  By  intuition  they  foresaw 
that  such  investigation  would  expose  the  nature  of 
the  business  in  which  they  were  engaged,  and  they 
knew  enough  of  human  nature  to  understand  that 
those  with  hearts  sufficiently  warm  to  be  touched  by 
the  misery  thus  disclosed  must  be  led  to  abhor  the 
trade  of  which  that  wretchedness  was  the  product. 
Perhaps,  too,  they  feared  that  some  with  wills  strong 
enough  might  he  led  to  invoke  law  as  a  protection 
from  such  sin  and  shame  and  crime  as  their  business 
was  pouring  out  in  an  ever-widening  stream  to  befoul 
what  otherwise  might  be  virtue,  plenty,  happiness, 
and  peace  in  tlie  community. 

Naturally,  much  of  this  charitable  investigation 
fell  to  women,  the  wives  and  sisters  and  daughters  of 
the  men  who  were  interested  in  the  reform  movement. 
It  was  not  uncomiiioii  ff)r  them  to  be  the  subjects  of 


Mrs.  Xeal  Dow. 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  '265 

many  kinds  of  annoyances,  ranging  from  petty  insults 
almost  to  the  verge  of  violence.  My  wife  was  one  of 
these.  Full  of  tact,  gentle,  courteous,  considerate, 
and  refined  in  all  her  bearing,  it  was  impossible  for 
her  to  give  offense  by  voice,  or  manner,  to  any  whom 
she  might  encounter  on  such  missions. 

One  day.  perhaps  because  she  bore  my  name,  she 
was  violently  accosted  by  a  rumseller,  not  one  of  the 
••  respectable  "  kind  —  but  fully  as  respectable  as  his 
business — with  some  insulting  advice  about  attending 
to  her  own  affairs.  When  she  reached  home  she 
related  the  incident  to  me.  and  I  had  an  interview 
with  the  fellow  and  thereafter  there  was  nothing  of 
which  to  complain  in  his  behavior  toward  any  woman 
who  visited  his  neighborhood  on  such  errands  of 
mercy. 

Into  all  parts  of  the  city  where  their  ministrations 
could  serve  to  mitigate  suffering  in  any  form,  good 
women  went.  Did  woman  ever  carry  her  sympathy, 
her  tears,  her  kindly  assistance  to  the  maimed  and 
bleeding  victims  of  a  battle-field  without  conceiving  a 
holy  horror  of  war  i  So  in  the  hearts  of  these  kind 
women  of  Portland  in  those  earlier  days  of  the 
reformatory  movement  there  sprang  up  a  detestation 
of  the  trade  which  produced  the  scenes  that  common 
humanity  compelled  them  to  view. 

Pages  might  be  filled  with  the  relation  of  incidents 
coming  under  their  observation,  and  some  of  them 
might  well  be  termed  heart-rending.  Were  such 
presented,  those  who  might  read  them,  could,  per- 
haps, more  easily  understand  how  active  temi)erance 
workers  of  the  period  were  impelled  to  unfaltering 
zeal  by  what  they  thus  learned  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  evil  they  were  endeavoring  to  suppress.     Leave  all 


286  REMmiSCENCES 

this,  however,  to  imagination,  which  cannot  outrun 
the  reality. 

A  most  effective  agency  for  the  creation  of  art 
improved  public  sentiment  was  the  circulation  of 
petitions  from  house  to  house.  Sometimes  these  were 
addressed  to  the  legislature,  asking  for  more  stringent 
restrictive  provisions  in  the  license  law;  sometimes 
they  asked  for  prohibitory  laws;  sometimes  they  were 
addressed  to  the  board  of  aldermen,  praying  them  to 
refuse  to  grant  licenses,  and  sometimes  asking  them 
to  cause  the  provisions  of  existing  laws  to  be  more 
strictly  observed. 

Signing  petitions  is  often  a  merely  perfunctory  act 
and  the  solicitation  of  signatures  a  trifling  task.  Not 
so  as  to  the  petitions  with  the  circulation  of  which 
temperance  men  and  women  in  Maine  charged  them- 
selves at  the  time  of  which  I  write.  The  opponents  of 
the  movement  and  those  indifferent  to  it,  knew,  as 
well  as  did  those  who  obtained  the  signatures,  that 
these  petitions  represented  the  sober  convictions  of 
their  signers,  and  that  signatures  had  not  been  affixed 
to  them  hastily,  or  without  thought.  Those  long 
lists  of  names,  in  some  cases  many  thousands,  stood 
for  as  many  enlightened,  quickened  consciences,  and 
for  an  equal  number  of  warm  and  earnest  hearts. 
Behind  them  was  a  deliberate  purpose,  which,  sooner 
or  later,  in  one  form  or  another,  was  to  make  itself 
felt  with  the  law-making,  law-enforcing  power. 

I  note  one  out  of  many  of  these  petitions.  It  was 
presented  to  the  city  government,  on  the  22d  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1849,  and  was  numerously  signed.  The  first 
signature  upon  it  was  that  of  Rev.  Ichabod  Nichols, 
D.D,,  already  mentioned  as  one  of  the  sponsors  of  the 
first  movement  in  behalf  of  temperance  in  Portland. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  287 

Following  his  name  came  those  of  all  the  clergymen 
of  Portland,  and  of  many  of  our  most  influential  cit- 
izens to  the  number  of  nearly  one  thousand.  Such  a 
petition,  so  numerously  and  influentially  signed, 
could  not  be  ignored,  and  most  respectful  considera- 
tion was  given  it.  It  was  in  substance  a  request  to 
the  city  authorities  to  enforce  the  law  against  the  sale 
of  intoxicants. 

Of  those  composing  the  committee  appointed  in  re- 
sponse to  this  petition  to  consider  the  subject  besides 
that  of  the  mayor,  the  late  Eliphalet  Greeley,  I  note 
the  name  of  Edward  Fox,  an  alderman,  to  whom  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  refer  again.  The  committee 
manifested  considerable  interest  in  the  matter,  and  in- 
vited the  petitioners  and  other  citizens  to  meet  with 
it  to  carefully  consider  the  whole  subject.  Subse- 
quently, the  committee  reported: 

"Places  for  the  illegal  sale  of  ardent  spirits  have  increased 
in  the  city  during  the  last  two  years  to  an  alarming  extent — to 
the  nunil)er  of  three  hundred — in  the  opinion  of  those  whose 
attention  has  been  drawn  to  the  subject.  The  committee  rec- 
ommends that  the  provisions  of  law  authorizing  the  prosecu- 
tion of  suits  in  behalf  of  the  city  should  be  enforced  energet- 
ically in  all  cases  where  sufficient  proof  can  be  obtained,  and 
urges  the  co-operation  of  those  citizens  who  are  desirous  of  a 
speedy  removal  of  this  great  evil  ;  it  also  recommends  that 
the  city  authorities  appeal  to  the  owners  of  buildings  in  which 
the  traffic  is  carried  on  for  their  aid  and  services  against  the 
odious  traffic,  and  for  prompt  and  decisive  action  upon  the 
subject ;  and  to  accomplish  the  above  suggestion  the  commit- 
tee submits  the  accompanying  resolves  for  consideration  of  the 
city  council  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  licensing  board  be  and  they  are  hereby 
requested  and  instructed  to  adopt  speedy  and  efficient  meas- 
ures to  enforce  the  law  in  every  case  where  proof  can  be  ob- 
tained by  them  against  all  persons  now  engaged  in  the  illegal 
traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  who  shall  not  immediately  aban- 
don it ;  and  said  board  is  hereby  fully  authorized  and  empow- 


288  REMINISCENCES 

ered  to  adopt  such  measures  and  incur  such  expenditures  as 
in  their  judgment  may  be  expedient  to  accomplish  this  desirable 
object. 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  ap})ointod  to  call  upon  the 
owners  of  buildings  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  sold  to 
make  an  earnest  appeal  to  them  in  behalf  of  the  city  authori- 
ties urii'inii'  them  to  take  measures  immediately  to  remove  those 
persons  from  their  premises." 

The  rei)ort  and  resolutions  '\;vere  adopted  unanimous- 
ly, and  the  committee  provided  for  was  appointed. 

The  mayor  expressed  himself  as  willing  to  do  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the 
petitioners  and  the  avowed  determination  of  the  city 
council.  It  was,  however,  about  the  close  of  Mayor 
Greeley's  sixth  successive  term,  and  he  was  not  a  can- 
didate for  re-election.  His  successor  was  James  B. 
Cahoon,  who  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of 
the  resolutions,  and  indeed  was  one  of  those  upon 
W'hose  petition  the  city  government  had  acted. 

Upon  the  installation  of  Mayor  Cahoon,  substan- 
tially similar  action  to  that  related  was  taken  by  the 
new  city  government  which  undertook  in  good  faith 
to  enforce  the  law.  But  it  was  impracticable  to  do 
anything  under  it.  There  was  nothing  in  its  provi- 
sions which  prevented  the  would-be  dealers  from 
carrying  as  large  a  stock,  displayed  in  as  attractive 
form,  as  they  chose,  and  so  after  a  time  all  efforts  at 
enforcement  were  practically  abandoned  for  want  of 
the  requisite  weapon  with  which  to  attack  the  traffic. 

By  this  time  it  had  been  demonstrated  as  clearly  as 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  w^as  possible,  that  the  faith- 
fulness and  zeal  of  the  friends  of  temperance  had 
educated  and  developed  a  poidilar  feeling  in  the 
community  hostile  to  the  nefarious  trade.  Neverthe- 
less,   it  was    impossible    to    direct    that    into    really 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  289 

effective  practical  antagonism  to  the  traffic  it  con- 
demned, and  the  clearly  manifested  will  of  the  people 
stood  impotent  in  the  presence  of  those  who,  against 
law,  against  public  sentiment,  and  against  the  welfare 
of  the  connnunity,  continued  the  business  which  was 
sapping  the  moral  well-being  of  the  city  and  fattening 
upon  all  that  made  for  its  material  prosperity  as  well. 

What  was  to  be  done  ?  There  were  those,  and  very 
respectable  citizens  they  were  too,  who  took  no  special 
interest  in  the  matter.  Their  fortunes  were  secure, 
their  sons  were  safe,  their  comfort  and  happiness  were 
not  likely  to  be  disturbed  and  they  took  little  note  of 
what  did  not  directly  affect  them  in  person  or  prop- 
erty. Not  so,  how^ever,  was  it  with  those  whose  zeal 
had  brought  the  liquor-traffic  to  the  bar  of  public 
opinion,  where  it  had  been  condemned  as  hostile  to 
every  public  interest.  They  determined  that  the 
instrument  should  be  provided  whereby  the  will  of 
the  people  could  be  given  force  and  effect. 

Of  course  those  who  devoted  themselves  to  this 
aroused  opposition,  which  was  visited  upon  them  in 
many  forms,  and  sometimes  from  unexpected  quarters. 
This  did  not  discourage  them.  They  understood, 
however,  that  in  morals,  as  in  mechanics,  with  greater 
force  and  speed  came  increased  resistance  and  friction, 
and  they  looked  upon  the  antagonism  which  they 
aroused  as  so  much  evidence  that  they  were  accom- 
plishing something,  and  they  kept  on,  full  of  courage, 
hope  and  determination. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


HOW    SOME    OF    THE    WORK   WAS    DONE.       ANNOYANCES    AND 

ASSAULTS.         USEFUL    AGENCIES.         SOME   PERSONS 

TO   WHOM   MAINE   IS   INDEBTED. 


While  work,  such  as  I  have  endeavored  partially  to 
describe,  was  in  progress  in  Portland,  labor  with  the 
sanie  object  in  view,  differing  somewhat  according  to 
locality  and  circumstances,  was  being  prosecuted  else- 
where. Meetings  were  held  in  almost  every  accessible 
town,  village  and  hamlet;  wherever  two  or  three 
could  be  gathered  together  in  the  name  of  temper- 
ance, some  one  was  in  their  midst  preaching  the 
gospel  of  freedom  from  the  curse  of  the  drink  habit. 
In  the  summer  season,  large  open-air  meetings  were 
held  throughout  the  state,  to  which  the  people  came 
from  considerable  distances,  often  making  of  the 
occasions  fete  days  and  picnics.  Music,  processions, 
banners,  and  effective  singing,  as  well  as  speaking, 
rendered  these  meetings  attractive  to  many  who 
would  not  otherwise  have  been  present. 

I  attended  many  such  gatherings,  large  and  small,  in 
different  parts  of  the  state,  though  I  chiefly  confined 
my  labors  to  the  three  or  four  western  counties. 
Announcements  of  meetings  which  I  was  to  address 
were  made  sometimes  far  in  advance  of  their  date. 


KEMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL    DOW.  2\)] 

A  temperance  paper  was  published  in  Portland,  of 
which  my  long-time  friend  and  co-worker,  George  H. 
Shirley,  now  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  was  publisher.  It 
was  our  custom  to  announce  a  course  of  meetings 
in  its  columns  at  such  dates  and  plac6s  as  would 
permit  of  their  being  taken  in  succession  with  the 
least  outlay  of  time  and  travel.  To  meet  the  appoint- 
ments thus  made,  I  took  my  own  team  and  made  the 
rounds.  Many  of  these  missions  occupied  several 
weeks,  others  only  a  week  or  less. 

Mr.  Shirley  and  Mr.  John  T.  Walton  were  my 
almost  invariable  companions  on  those  trips.  We 
were  frequently  accompanied  by  Mr.  Samuel  R. 
Leavitt  and  Mr.  Henry  C.  Lovell,  the  latter  being  a 
fine  singer.  Upon  Mr.  Shirley  devolved  the  work  of 
making  arrangements  and  attending  to  the  correspon- 
dence, for  which  he  was  admiral^ly  adapted.  Too 
much  credit  cannot  be  given  for  the  earnest,  faithful, 
painstaking  labor  which  he  gave  to  the  cause.  Ever 
zealous,  never  tiring,  always  faithful  because  of  his 
love  of  God,  he  gave  time  and  service  to  his  fellow- 
men  at  a  period  of  life  when  most  men  feel  justified  in 
employing  their  strength  in  providing  for  themselves. 
Mr.  Shirley  still  lives,  almost  the  sole  survivor  of 
those  with  whom  I  labored  in  the  early  days  of  our 
movement  in  Maine.  No  man  was  more  devoted,  no 
man  more  unselfish,  no  man  more  useful  than  he. 

Mr.  Walton  had  abandoned  the  use  of  liquor  three 
or  four  years  prior  to  the  Washingtonian  revival.  He 
was  a  bachelor,  and  a  cari^enter,  in  which  trade  he 
accumulated  means  sufficient  for  his  modest  wants. 
He  was  an  earnest  Whig  in  politics,  and  a  frequent 
and  pleasing  speaker  at  political  meetings,  having  a 
remarkably  clear,  incisive    and    forcible    style.     His 


292  REMINISCENCES 

often  homely,  but  always  striking,  illustrations  and 
epigrammatic  phrases  made  him  at  all  times  welcome 
at  any  meeting  he  was  willing  to  address. 

We  generally  found  suitable  preparation  made  for 
the  meetings  that  had  been  announced.  Ordinarily 
the  attendance  was  large  for  the  localities  in  which 
they  were  held,  but  the  size  of  the  audience  did  not 
concern  us.  We  had  truths  to  tell,  and  we  told  them 
to  those  who  would  listen,  whether  they  were  num- 
bered by  hundreds  or  only  included  a  dozen.  In  fact, 
it  often  happened  that  the  smaller  meetings  proved 
the  more  useful.  Frequently  people  came  from  all  the 
surrounding  country,  in  winter  in  sleighs,  pungs, 
sleds,  and  in  summer  in  chaises,  farm  wagons,  and 
every  conceivable  conveyance,  sometimes  crowding 
into  great  carts  drawn  by  teams  of  oxen.  Our  gath- 
erings were  held  in  meeting-houses,  town-houses, 
school-houses,  sometimes  in  barns,  and  often  in  the 
open  air. 

Traveling  about  as  we  did  in  every  direction,  we 
had  opportunity  to  see  the  people  and  talk  with  them 
in  private  as  well  as  in  public.  Everywhere,  especially 
in  the  earlier  days  of  our  work,  the  evidences  of  intem- 
perance abounded,  and  in  every  village,  and  on  every 
country  road,  as  we  traveled  we  saw  and  became 
familiar  with  that  with  which  to  point  or  adorn  our 
story,  and  which  incited  us  to  persistent  efforts  for 
the  end  we  sought. 

One  great  obstacle  to  be  overcome  was  the  common 
opinion  that  lifpior  was  a  panacea  for  sickness  in 
various  forms,  and  a  preventive  for  innumerable  and 
indescribable  ills.  It  was  used  ui)on  the  slightest 
pretext.  If  one  were  warm,  he  must  have  it;  if  cold, 
he  could  not  do  without  it,  being  ignorant,  undoubt- 


George  H.  Shirley. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  293 

edly,  that  in  either  case  it  was  worse  than  useless.  It 
was  necessary  to  confront  those  notions  by  demon- 
strating their  absurdity.  Special  efforts  were  made 
to  induce  men  not  deeply  addicted  to  drinking  to 
experiment  and  see  if  they  could  not  get  through  a 
day  or  a  week  of  work  better  without  than  with  it. 
Farmers  were  sometimes  led  to  make  the  same  test  in 
their  busy  season,  and  the  invariably  satisfactory 
reports  as  to  these  trials  were  found  to  be  of  great  use 
in  correcting  the  general  belief  that  liquors  were 
indispensable  adjuncts  of  industry. 

The  opportunity  for  an  effective  canvass  was  good. 
Audiences  were  not  obliged  to  rely  upon  the  imagina- 
tion of  speakers  to  learn  how  intemperance  affected  an 
individual,  or  to  understand  the  obstacles  which  that 
evil  interposed  to  the  prosperity  and  progress  of  their 
community.  Substantial  evidence  of  all  this  was  to 
be  obtained  on  every  hand.  Some  of  their  neighbors 
were  grossly  intemperate;  their  friends,  perhaps  many 
of  them,  were  neglecting  their  business  and  their 
families  because  of  their  growing  appetite  for  liquor. 
It  was  only  necessary  that  attention  be  called  to  the 
matter  in  a  general  way.  Almost  every  adult  in  the 
audience  had  been  unfavorably  affected  by  the 
intemperance  rife  in  the  vicinity.  Right  at  hand 
were  illustrations  of  the  demoralizing  influence  of 
the  drink  habit,  and  of  the  traffic  which  lived  upon 
and  contributed  to  it. 

In  these  early  meetings  it  was  not  uncommon  for 
men  in  various  conditions  of  subordination  to  the 
appetite  for  rum  to  sign  the  pledge  and  promise  their 
adhesion  to  the  movement.  Sometimes  a  moderate 
drinker,  though  thinking  himself  safe  from  the 
danger  of  drunkenness,  would  announce  his  willing- 

20 


294  REMINISCENCES 

ness  to  give  up  his  occasional  indulgence  for  the  sake 
of  his  example  of  abstinence  to  others,  and  it  was 
almost  invariably  the  case  if  we  could  induce  one 
such  to  make  that  announcement  in  open  meeting 
that  he  was  followed  by  others.  More  than  once, 
veritable  drunkards  staggered  to  the  platform  to  sign 
the  pledge,  and  promised  to  make  an  earnest  struggle 
to  free  themselves  from  their  terrible  thraldom. 

I  have  in  mind  a  striking  illustration  of  this.  A 
man,  reeling  drunk,  staggered  to  the  platform  where 
I  was  speaking,  and  announced  his  desire  to  sign  the 
pledge.  I  had  grave  doubts  of  his  understanding 
what  he  was  about,  and  advised  him  to  wait  until  he 
was  sober,  l3ut  he  insisted,  and  affixed  his  signature  in 
a  bold,  round  hand.  I  knew  him  well.  He  was  con- 
nected with  a  respectable  family,  but  his  intemperate 
habits  had  well-nigh  ruined  him.  He  kept  the  pledge 
for  years,  meanwhile  establishing  himself  in  business 
and  doing  well,  having  bought  and  paid  for  a  modest 
l3ut  comfortable  home,  and  accumulated  other  means. 
Prospering  thus  through  his  sobriety  and  industry, 
twelve  years  after  the  incident  I  have  related  he  was 
confined  to  his  bed  for  several  weeks  by  sickness. 

In  an  evil  hour  his  attending  physician  prescribed  a 
little  liquor.  The  poor  man  protested  against  taking- 
it,  but  finally,  after  much  persuasion  by  his  wife,  who 
had  been  led  by  the  doctor  to  believe  that  liquor  alone 
could  save  her  husband's  life,  he  yielded.  A  short 
time  after,  seized  by  an  uncontrollable  desire  for 
stimulants,  the  reformed  man  left  his  house,  obtained 
liquor,  and  was  found  in  a  few  hours  in  a  state  of 
beastly  intoxication.  Thereafter  he  relapsed  into 
drinking  habits,  losing  the  property  he  had  gathered, 
and  from  a  self-respecting,  self-supporting  citizen,  con- 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  295 

tributing  his  full  share  to  the  well-being  of  the 
community,  he  became  a  wreck,  and  a  helpless  charge 
upon  the  charity  of  others. 

No  need  in  those  days  for  vulgar  exhibitions  by  the 
speakers  in  imitation  of  speech  or  act  of  drunken  men. 
Those  present  were  all  too  familiar  with  such  scenes 
in  their  own  family  or  in  the  families  of  their  neigh- 
bors and  friends.  We  drew  on  imagination  rather  to 
show  what  the  condition  of  their  town  or  village,  of 
their  neighbors  and  friends,  of  their  own  families, 
might  be  if  the  drink  should  be  abandoned  and  the 
business  of  the  rumseller  no  longer  permitted  in  their 
midst. 

It  was  our  special  care  at  all  these  meetings  and  in 
our  journeyings  from  one  to  the  other  to  distribute 
temperance  literature  freely,  selected  with  a  view  to 
enlightening  the  people  as  to  the  relation  of  the 
liquor-traffic  to  the  general  good.  We  devoted  our- 
selves largely  to  exposing  the  evils  inevitably  flowing 
from  the  grog-shops,  and  convincing  the  people  that 
liquor-selling  was  a  great  sin  against  God  and  a  crime 
against  society.  Occasionally  the  wife  of  a  country 
trader  would  go  home  from  such  a  meeting  and 
insist  that  her  husband  should  abandon  the  sale  of 
liquor  and  pour  out  what  stock  of  it  he  had  on  hand, 
and  in  several  instances  the  men  thus  induced  to 
relinquish  the  traffic  became  active  and  useful  friends 
of  the  cause. 

At  one  of  these  meetings  in  a  large  country  town  I 
was  describing  the  character  of  the  drink-traffic  and 
its  efi'ects  upon  the  people.  After  I  had  been  speak- 
ing some  time  two  ladies  arose  from  the  body  of  the 
crowded  house  and  went  out.  The  next  day  we 
learned  that  they  were  mother  and  daughter,  the  wife 


296  REMINISCENCES 

and  child  of  tlie  hotel-keeper  in  the  town.  They  had 
gone  home  that  the  wife  might  say  immediately,  as 
she  did  upon  entering  the  house:  "Husband,  liquors 
must  go  out  of  this  house  or  I  will  go!"  From  that 
day  the  tavern  became  a  temperance  house  and  the 
tavern-keeper,  and  his  wife  and  daughter,  warm  and 
influential  friends  of  the  temperance  movement  in 
their  vicinity. 

It  was  common  in  those  meetings  for  the  speakers  to 
contrast  the  social  and  business  standing  of  the 
patron,  not  to  say  the  victim,  of  the  rumshop  with 
that  of  the  village  liquor-seller,  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  people  to  the  comfortable  home  of  the  latter 
and  ask  them  to  compare  it  with  their  own  habita- 
tions, to  see  what  comforts  the  family  of  the  man  of 
whom  they  bought  their  liquor  enjoyed,  and  contrast 
them  with  the  hardships  to  which  their  own  wives 
and  children  were  exposed.  This  proved  a  most 
effective  mode  of  speaking,  but  it  was  not  always  an 
agreeable  one.  When  it  is  remembered  that  in  those 
early  days  of  the  movement  the  rumsellers  were 
among  the  most  respected  and  influential  members 
of  these  village  communities,  it  will  be  understood 
that  the  meetings  in  which  such  talk  was  made  had  a 
tendency  to  create  excitement  at  times  becoming  dis- 
agreeable in  the  extreme  to  the  speakers. 

In  one  of  our  excursions  we  Avere  to  speak  at  a 
village  which  had  been  peculiarly  cursed  by  rum. 
We  had  been  told  that  we  would  be  shot  if  we  went 
there,  but  we  antic ii)ated  no  such  extreme  danger, 
and  kept  on,  despite  the  warning.  There  was  a 
"sciuire,"  as  trial- justices  were  uniformly  called, 
who  kept  a  large  country  store,  with  every  variety 
of  goods  suitable  to  the  trade  which    he  supplied. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  297 

as  well  as  rum  in  large  quantities.  It  had  l^een  given 
out  that  this  man  had  determined  that  no  temperance 
speeches  should  be  made  in  that  community  if  he 
could  prevent  it.  It  was  important  that  the  village 
over  which  he  exercised  a  sort  of  terrorism  should  see 
that,  after  all,  the  ' '  squire  "  would  be  quite  helpless 
in  confronting  those  who  were  conscious  that  they 
were  right. 

The  "squire's "  house  was  large  and  handsome,  well 
kept  in  every  particular,  while  the  other  houses  in 
the  village,  almost  without  exception,  were  poor  and 
shabby.  Our  meeting  was  crowded,  and  we  talked  to 
the  people  plainly,  contrasting  their  hovels  and  their 
surroundings  with  the  establishment  of  the  "squire," 
showing  them  that  it  was  their  money  which  had 
made  that  house  so  fine,  while  for  the  want  of  it 
theirs  were  mean  and  dilapidated.  The  back  part 
of  the  meeting-house  was  crowded  with  these  poor 
people,  and  we  noticed  some  of  them  looking  at  each 
other  significantly  and  nodding,  "That's  so."  Natur- 
ally, the  "squire"  did  not  like  it,  and  after  the 
meeting  took  some  very  foolish  steps  to  manifest  it, 
but  they  reacted  upon  him  and  his  business  and  thus 
served  our  purpose  well,  for  the  next  time  we  held  a 
meeting  there  we  entered  and  departed  undisturbed. 

We  did  not,  however,  always  have  our  own  way. 
It  was  not  infrequently  that  the  village  lawyer,  doc- 
tor or  tavern-keeper  would  speak,  adding  the  weight 
of  his  influence  to  such  argument  as  he  was  able  to 
make  against  the  reform.  Occasionally  the  less 
respectable  portion  of  the  community  would  oppose 
after  a  difi'erent  fashion.  Violence  was  at  times 
resorted  to,  to  break  up  the  meetings.  The  speakers 
would    be    insulted    and    threatened    with    personal 


298  REMINISCENCES 

injury,  or  the  harnesses  of  the  teams  in  which  they 
had  driven  to  meeting  would  be  tampered  with,  that 
accidents  might  happen  on  the  way  home,  while  in 
several  instances  residents  interested  in  the  promotion 
of  the  meetings  had  their  barns  and  liouses  burned, 
their  horses  and  cattle  injured,  orchards  destroyed, 
or  experienced  other  damage  to  person  or  property. 

Early  in  our  work,  while  I  was  a  comparatively 
young  and  vigorous  man,  the  exact  date  I  have  not 
at  hand,  I  was  assaulted  one  forenoon  on  the  principal 
lousiness  street  of  the  city.  I  was  walking  down  its 
slight  grade,  when,  hearing  a  quick  step  behind  me,  I 
turned  as  one  involuntarily  does  and  glanced  over  my 
shoulder  just  as  I  received  a  blow  from  a  tall  fellow 
dressed  in  the  garb  of  a  sailor.  Taken  thus  at  a 
disadvantage,  I  fell,  but  was  up  instantly,  when,  after 
two  or  three  ineffectual  attempts  to  strike  me  again, 
the  fellow  took  to  his  heels.  Not  disposed  to  let  the 
affair  terminate  that  way,  and  suspecting,  what  after- 
wards proved  to  be  the  case,  that  he  had  been  put  up 
to  the  job  by  others,  for  I  had  never  seen  the  man 
before,  I  followed,  overtaking  him  in  a  rod  or  two. 
There  he  surrendered.  While  I  was  holding  him  on 
his  back  to  the  ground,  Hanson  M.  Hart,  Esq. ,  one  of 
our  most  respected  citizens,  seeing  what  he  supposed 
to  be  the  handle  of  a  knife,  protruding  from  the 
sailor's  waistband,  withdrew  it  to  find  that  it  was  a 
cowhide. 

At  the  trial  it  turned  out  that  my  assailant  was  a 
stranger  in  town,  the  mate  of  a  coasting-schooner; 
that  he  had  never  seen  me  until  I  had  been  ])ointed 
out  to  him  on  the  morning  of  the  assault,  and  that  he 
had  been  hired  by  some  rumsellers  to  cowhide  me  on 
the   [jublic  streets.       Though  he  failed  to  carry  out 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  299 

his  contract,  he  thought  he  had  fully  earned  the 
promised  fee.  That  was  the  last  assault  ever  made 
upon  me  in  the  open  —  although  two  juries  before 
whom  the  fellow  and  an  accomplice  were  tried  dis- 
agreed. It  seems  that  after  the  disagreement  of  the 
first  jury,  the  county  attorney,  a  political  and  per- 
sonal opponent  of  mine,  (I  had  given  him  an  immense 
deal  of  annoyance  in  insisting  that  he  should  prose- 
cute rumsellers  under  the  old  license  laws)  consented 
that  one  of  the  jurors,  a  rumseller,  who  happened  to 
be  in  the  court-room,  should  be  put  on  the  other  panel 
to  fill  an  unexpected  vacancy  there,  and  tried  the 
case  again  immediately  with  what  was  to  be  expected, 
another  disagreement.  That  ended  the  case.  It  was 
said  at  the  time  that  it  cost  the  men  who  employed 
the  sailor  over  three  hundred  dollars  to  defend  him 
and  to  pay  him  for  his  trouble.  That  was  a  large  sum 
for  that  time,  but  it  was  less  than  their  disappoint- 
ment. A  short  time  afterwards  there  was  a  temper- 
ance meeting  in  Portland  addressed  by  John  B. 
Gough.  Opening  his  speech  he  offered  this  toast: 
"N.  D.,  knocked  down,  not  dead." 

On  one  occasion  my  family  was  startled  in  the 
evening  by  the  crashing  of  a  window.  Some  one, 
perhaps  imagining  that  he  would  thereby  check  the 
progress  of  temperance,  had  thrown  a  bottle  of  asafet- 
ida  into  our  parlor.  The  result  was  some  ruined 
furniture  and  the  temporary  annoyance  and  incon- 
venience of  my  family.     That  was  all. 

One  evening  a  couple  of  fellows  waylaid  me  on  my 
way  from  a  temperance  meeting,  and  springing  upon 
me  from  behind  a  tree,  expected  to  take  me  at  a 
disadvantage,  but  they  failed.  Several  ineffectual 
attempts  and  one  successful  one  to  fire  some  of  my 


300  REMINISCENCES 

buildings  were  made,  and  for  a  time  I  could  not  get 
some  of  my  property  insured  ])ecause  the  agents  be- 
lieved that  my  activity  against  the  liquor-traffic 
rendered  it  liable  to  incendiary  attempts  on  the  i)art 
of  evil-disposed  persons.  Then  came  petty  vexations. 
Not  infrequently  objectionable  i)ackages  were  left 
at  my  house.  Bottles,  sometimes  dead  cats  even, 
were  thrown  into  my  yard  or  put  into  my  carriage 
when  I  had  left  it  standing  before  some  place  where 
my  business  had  called  me.  Other  trivial  efforts  to 
annoy  me  were  made,  but  none  of  them  interrupted 
our  progress  perceptil^ly.  For  the  most  part,  however, 
I  suffered  little  individually,  and  on  more  than  one 
occasion  was  able  by  my  mere  presence  to  prevent 
serious  trouble  to  some  other  temperance  man  who 
was  threatened  with  violence.  Fortunately,  fellows 
animated  by  motives  which  prompt  such  attacks 
rarely  have  nerve  sufficient  to  carry  out  their  design. 
Some  of  our  friends,  however,  did  not  escape  so 
easily.  There  were  numerous  cases  of  assault,  more 
or  less  aggravated,  upon  temperance  men  and  upon 
complainants  against  violators  of  the  liquor  law  in 
various  parts  of  the  state.  I  recall  one  in  particular, 
upon  H.  K.  Baker,  of  Hallowell,  who  early  in  life 
became  interested  in  the  promotion  of  temperance, 
and  who  devoted  miu-h  of  his  time  for  many  years  to 
l^ersistent  and  constant  efforts  in  that  direction. 
Many  complaints  against  unlicensed  liquor-dealers 
had  been  brought  before  him,  as  a  trial- justice.  He 
was  known  to  ])e  an  earnest  friend  of  temperance. 
His  sympathies  in  tliat  direction,  however,  had  never 
led  him  to  official  injustice  on  the  bench,  and  he  was 
able  to  show  that  not  one  of  seventy-five  appeals  from 
his  decisions  had  ])een  sustained.     Nevertheless,  Mr. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  801 

Baker,  on  coming  out  of  the  court-house  one  day  in 
Augusta,  was  assaulted  and  cowhided  by  a  man  who 
was  urged  to  it  and  applauded  by  a  crowd  of  men 
awaiting  Mr.  Baker's  exit  from  the  court,  on  the 
piazza  of  a  licensed  rum-tavern  which  he  was  obliged 
to  pass  on  his  way  home. 

That  assault  created  great  excitement  because  of  its 
peculiarly  cowardly  character.  It  afforded  also  as 
satisfactory  proof  as  could  be  asked  of  the  sympathy 
existing  between  licensed  and  unlicensed  liquor-deal- 
ers, and  the  mistake  of  relying  upon  the  former  for 
assistance  in  the  prosecution  of  the  latter.  Five  men 
were  subsequently  indicted  by  the  grand  jury  for 
complicity  in  the  assault,  and  they  were  convicted 
and  heavily  fined.  Such  incidents  had  not  a  little  to 
do  with  arousing  that  public  sentiment  later  resulting 
in  the  enactment  of  the  prohibitory  law. 

At  one  trial  in  Portland  of  some  liquor-dealers  for 
the  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  existing  license 
law,  one  of  the  most  important  witnesses  for  the 
prosecution,  living  in  Oxford  county,  had  become  cog- 
nizant of  the  violations  while  staying  at  the  tavern  of 
the  respondents.  As  the  trial  progressed,  the  friends 
of  temperance  were  inclined  to  the  opinion  that 
the  county  attorney,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  pros- 
ecution, had  no  sympathy  with  the  effort  to  enforce 
the  law  generally,  and  was  especially  disinclined  in 
this  particular  case.  It  was  in  the  late  fall.  I  be- 
came satisfied  on  the  day  of  the  trial  that  the  program 
was  to  delay  proceedings  so  that  it  should  be  dark 
before  the  adjournment  of  the  court,  with  a  view,  as 
I  had  reason  to  believe,  of  assaulting  this  particular 
witness  when  he  left  the  court,  he  having  informed 
me  that  threats  of  the  kind  had  been  made.     I  accord- 


302  REMINISCENCES 

ingly  determined  to  protect  liim  at  all  hazards  from 
violence,  should  such  be  attempted. 

I  had  recourse  again  to  my  engine-company,  which  on 
occasion  had  ^'el\  served  me  in  previous  emergencies, 
and  with  two  able-bodied,  plucky  men,  from  the  old 
Deluge,  I  was  on  hand  in  the  court-room,  the  shades 
of  evening  having  already  fallen,  waiting  for  the 
adjournment.  As  the  crowd  passed  out,  I  took  the 
witness  by  the  arm,  while  my  two  friends  fell  in  just 
liehind.  We  walked  from  the  court-house  to  the 
tavern  where  the  witness  was  then  staying,  fol- 
lowed by  a  crowd  of  roughs,  who  visited  upon  our 
little  party  all  the  annoyances  of  unbridled  talk  and 
loud  threats,  but  that  was  all.  No  blow  was  struck, 
no  harm  was  done.  The  threatening  bullies  were 
undoubtedly  cowed  by  the  consciousness  of  the  wrong 
of  their  intent,  and  possibly  by  the  bearing  of  the 
escort  of  the  witness  they  had  marked  for  a  victim. 

That  was  the  last  time  that  I  ever  went  armed  on 
the  streets  of  Portland.  Eeturning  to  my  house  in 
the  evening,  I  threw  my  outer  coat  across  the  baluster 
of  the  front  stairway,  forgetting  that  in  the  pocket 
was  a  brace  of  pistols.  The  act  discharged  one  of 
them,  and  the  bullet,  smashing  the  hall-lamp,  just 
grazed  in  its  course  the  head  of  one  of  my  daughters, 
who  was  ascending  the  stairs.  The  shock  of  her  great 
danger  (as  it  was  she  was  cut  by  the  falling  glass) 
taught  me  a  lesson  which  I  never  after  disregarded. 

My  friend  Woodbury  Davis,  to  whom  I  have  else- 
where alluded,  was  the  victim  of  a  most  atrocious 
assault,  perpetrated  by  some  ruffians,  i)robably  paid 
therefor  l)y  some  wiser,  if  not  better,  men  than  they, 
who  had  taken  offense  at  some  remarks  of  Mr.  Davis 
at  a  temperance  meeting.      Though  lie  lived    years 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  303 

after  the  incident,  it  was  tliought  that  he  never  fully 
recovered  from  the  injuries  he  received,  and  that  his 
life  was  shortened  thereby.  A  life-insurance  com- 
pany, some  time  after  the  assault,  refused  to  issue  a 
policy  upon  his  life  on  the  ground  that  his  chances  for 
longevity  had  been  lessened  by  it. 

Joshua  Nye,  of  Waterville,  one  of  the  most  earnest, 
and  active  friends  of  temperance  in  Maine,  was  on  one 
occasion  set  upon  by  a  crowd  of  ruffians,  who,  with 
clubs  and  bludgeons,  sought  to  punish  him  for  his 
activity  in  prosecuting  a  liquor-seller.  Happily,  he 
was  able  to  draw  a  pistol  before  they  had  seriously 
injured  him,  and  the  cowardly  hirelings  (it  was  after- 
wards shown  that  some  liquor-sellers  had  employed 
them)  abandoned  the  scoundrelly  job  for  which  they 
had  been  paid. 

In  the  town  of  Standish,  in  Cumberland  county,  an 
earnest  friend  of  temperance,  Mr.  S.  O.  Paine,  a  well 
known  and  highly  respected  citizen,  was  most  foully 
treated  because  of  his  activity  in  behalf  of  the  cause. 
He  was  taken  from  his  bed  one  winter  night  by  a 
party  of  masked  men,  who  were  on  the  other  side  of 
the  question,  and  carried  out  into  his  yard,  where 
there  was  a  long  watering-trough.  Into  this  he  was 
ducked  three  or  four  times,  his  tormentors  meanwhile 
expressing  the  hope  that  he  might  thus  get  enough  of 
cold  water.  This  did  not  help  their  cause.  There 
were  numerous  cases  of  more  or  less  aggravated 
assaults  in  different  parts  of  the  state.  All,  however, 
proved  quite  as  effective  as  any  speeches  to  hasten  the 
day  when  the  liquor-traffic  was  to  be  placed  under  the 
ban  of  the  law  as  inconsistent  with  the  public  good. 

Nor  were  the  friends  of  temperance  exposed  only  to 
personal  violence  from  the  baser  part  of  the  popula- 


304  KEMINISCEXCES 

tion.  They  were  often  annoyed  and  insulted  by  men 
wlio  knew  better,  and  in  places  and  amid  surround- 
ings which  ought  to  have  been  free  from  such  scenes. 
One  day  a  county  attorney  went  so  far  out  of  his  way 
to  insult  me  tliat  he  ]>rought  upon  himself  a  severe 
rebuke  from  the  presiding  judge,  the  late  Hon.  Daniel 
Gooclenough,  of  Alfred.  I  had  stepped  into  court  and 
taken  a  seat  near  the  jury,  among  other  spectators, 
facing  the  attorney,  who  was  addressing  the  panel. 
For  some  reason  my  presence  there  evidently  annoyed 
the  official,  for,  pausing  in  his  address  to  the  jury,  he 
shouted  to  me  in  a  loud  voice  and  most  excited  and 
offensive  manner:  "Get  out  of  there!"  Every  one 
present  could  understand  to  whom  he  spoke,  and  see 
that  his  intent  was  to  insult  me.  Flushing  with  indig- 
nation, I  arose,  but  at  a  sign  from  Judge  GoodenougH 
resumed  my  seat.  ' '  Mr.  Attorney, "  said  his  Honor, 
"sit  down,  sir!"  The  county  attorney  attempted  to 
go  on.  "Sit  down,  sir!"  said  the  judge,  "Sit 
down  ! " 

After  the  official  had  taken  his  seat,  the  judge  said, 
in  substance:  "Mr.  Attorney,  when  I  am  unable  to 
protect  citizens  in  this  court-room  from  such  insults  as 
that  of  which  you  have  just  been  guilty  I  will  resign 
from  the  bench.  After  you  have  properly  apologized 
to  the  court  and  to  all  present  you  will  be  at  liberty 
to  proceed." 

The  late  Eenjamin  Kingsbury  was  then  editor  of 
the  Eastern  Argus.  He  was  connected  with  a  differ- 
ent faction  of  tlie  Democratic  party  than  that  with 
which  tlie  county  attorney  was  identified.  In  refer- 
ring to  the  incident  in  his  paper,  he  said:  "At  the 
conclusion  of  the  judge's  rebuke,  Mr.  Dow's  smile  was 
wide  enough  to  dis|»]ay  n  fifty-dollar  set  of  molars." 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  305 

Meeting  Mr.  Kingsbury  on  the  street  shortly  after,  I 
told  him  the  figure  was  low  for  natural  teeth. 

The  annoyances,  and  even  the  dangers,  which  the 
active  friends  of  temperance  were  called  upon  to 
encounter  were  by  no  means  the  heaviest  burdens 
they  were  obliged  to  bear.  Something  besides  the 
modicum  of  physical  courage  they  required  was  essen- 
tial to  enable  them  to  maintain  the  positions  they  had 
taken.  Only  a  deep  conviction  that  their  duty  to 
God  and  humanity  exacted  it  could  have  induced  the 
handful  of  men  who  commenced  the  work  to  continue 
it.  The  contest  was  earnest.  In  many  instances  it 
became  bitter.  It  extended  into  the  churches,  dis- 
turbed their  harmony,  emptied  not  a  few  of  the  pews, 
and  sometimes  caused  resignations  from  pulpits. 
Almost  every  organization  in  Avhich  citizens  were 
associated  for  one  purpose  or  another  was  affected  by 
it,  dividing  into  "ramrods"  and  "rummies,"  as  the 
two  sides  were  respectively,  and  by  no  means  affec- 
tionately, called  by  each  other.  Lifelong  friendships 
were  broken,  and  even  families  were  divided. 

Happily,  after  a  time  there  was  improvement,  and 
with  the  new  and  changed  public  sentiment,  the  fruit 
of  the  agitation,  old  enmities  died  out,  and  old  friend- 
ships were  restored.  In  more  than  one  instance,  after 
years  of  estrangement  from  leading  and  influential 
citizens  growing  out  of  differences  on  this  question,  I 
have  received  messages  from  dying  men,  expressing 
regret  for  our  long  antagonisms  and  the  hope  that  the 
temperance  movement  would  go  on  to  success.  One 
of  these  came  to  me  from  the  county  attorney  who 
was  reproved  by  the  court  for  insulting  me.  Follow- 
ing his  message  I  called  upon  him,  and  there  was  a 
hearty    and   cordial  reconciliation.     Is  it  surprising 


306  REMINISCENCES 

that  there  are  few  of  us,  as  we  look  back  upon  our 
active  lives  of  hostility  to  the  litiuor- traffic,  who  do 
not  now  regard  the  loss  of  i)ersonal  friendships,  be- 
cause of  the  positions  we  thoughtfully  took  and 
conscientiously  maintained,  as  among  the  greatest 
sacrifices  we  were  called  upon  to  make? 

The  prohibitory  movement  received  invaluable 
assistance  from  the  distinctively  antislavery  ele- 
ment in  the  state  that  from  1842  to  the  organization 
of  the  Republican  party  in  1854  maintained  a  political 
organization  in  Maine  known  first  as  the  Liberty 
l^arty,  and  afterwards  as  the  Free-Soil.  Most  of  its 
members  were  also  temperance  men,  holding  the  move- 
ment for  Prohibition  as  second  only  in  importance  to 
the  object  they  cherished  as  above  all  others.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  of  us  who  gave  temperance  the  first 
position  were  almost  as  earnest  Free-Soilers. 

An  incident  may  not  be  out  of  place.  I  have 
alluded  to  my  father's  antislavery  convictions  and 
to  his  sympathy  with  escaping  bondmen.  On  one 
occasion,  not  far  from  1840,  several  runaways  who 
had  reached  Portland  on  a  vessel  from  some  southern 
port,  had  been  sent  on  their  northward  way  rejoicing, 
my  father  and  I  having  rendered  some  assistance. 
Our  colored  i)eople  lield  a  meeting  in  the  Abyssinian 
church  to  celebrate  the  event,  and  some  whites, 
among  them  myself,  had  been  invited  to  participate. 
The  colored  presiding  officer,  when  he  introduced 
me,  after  saying  to  the  audience  that  the  "under- 
ground railroad  to  freedom  runs  through  his  kitchen 
and  ])ackyard,"  added,  "His  face  is  white,  but,  God 
bless  him.  his  heart  is  black,"  which  well-intended 
commendation  of  me  to  my  colored  hearers  insured 
my  cordial  reception  by  them. 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  807 

No  one  familiar  with  the  antislavery  agitation  in 
Maine  can  fail  to  recall  the  names  of  James  Appleton, 
of  Samuel  Fessenden,  of  S.  M.  Pond,  of  Ezekiel 
Holmes,  of  Charles  A.  Stackpole,  of  George  H.  Shir- 
ley, and  among  the  clergy  those  of  Rev.  Austin 
Willey,  Rev.  David  Thurston,  Rev.  O.  B.  Cheney, 
Rev.  D.  E.  Randall,  Rev.  C.  C.  Cone,  and  Rev.  Luther 
Wiswall,  and  as  certainly,  the  mention  of  those  names 
revives  in  the  minds  of  its  friends  the  temperance 
movement.  Most  of  the  leaders  in  each  reform 
were  interested  and  active  in  both,  exerting  their 
influence  to  make  the  efi'orts  for  one  contribute  to  the 
development  of  the  other,  as  far  as  it  could  be  done 
consistently  and  with  prudence.  To  this  end  the 
state  and  county  gatherings  of  both  agitations  were 
generally  held  upon  succeeding  days,  that  those  at- 
tending the  one  might  more  conveniently  participate 
in  the  other.  When  the  Maine  Law  was  adopted,  the 
Inquirer,  edited  l^y  Rev.  Austin  Willey,  the  organ  of 
the  Free-Soilers,  was  the  only  paper  other  than  an 
avowedly  temperance  publication  that  gave  it  a  cor- 
dial and  hearty  welcome.  Elsewhere  it  will  be  shown 
how  in  another  exigency  of  Prohibition,  the  Free- 
Soilers  rallied  to  its  defense,  and  that  the  two 
elements  became  fused  into  a  new  political  party, 
pledged  to  both  issues. 

Referring  to  the  so-called  secret  temperance  organi- 
zations, first  in  order  of  time,  as  I  remember  it,  were 
the  Rechabites.  I  was  a  member  of  this  order  for  a 
while,  though  too  much  engaged  in  outside  work  to 
give  it  much  of  my  time.  I  think  it  did  not  cover  a 
large  portion  of  the  state,  but  a  branch  was  estab- 
lished in  Portland. 

Following  upon  the  Washingtonian  movement,  the 


308  REMINISCENCES 

order  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  was  introduced  into 
Maine,  the  first  division  being  instituted  in  1844. 
Within  a  few  years  it  obtained  a  rapid  growth  and 
was  widely  diffused  through  the  state,  including  in 
its  numerous  divisions  a  large  number  of  the  active 
friends  of  temperance.  In  many  towns  it  was  for  a 
while  the  only  organization.  At  one  time,  at  a  later 
period,  its  membership  numbered  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
thirty  thousand.  I  did  not  become  connected  with 
this  order  until  the  fall  of  1851,  when  it  was  thought 
desirable  that  I  should  become  the  presiding  officer  of 
its  Grand  Division.  A  new  division  was  instituted  in 
Portland;  I  was  elected  to  its  chair,  and,  becoming 
thus  eligible  for  the  Grand  Division,  was  elected  G. 
W.  P.  for  Maine.  The  next  year,  at  the  meeting  of 
the  National  Division  in  Richmond,  Va. ,  I  was  chosen 
M.  W.  A.,  Judge  J.  Belton  O'Neale,  of  South  Carolina, 
being  M.  W.  P.  I  entertained  a  very  high  opinion  of 
Judge  O'Neale.  It  has  been  said  that  he  did  not 
sympathize  with  the  secession  sentiment  which  domi- 
nated his  state,  and  though  his  views  were  well 
understood,  so  great  was  the  respect  entertained  for 
him,  that  he  experienced  no  personal  difficulty  on 
account  of  them. 

It  is  impossible  to  call  here  the  long  and  honorable 
roll  of  those  members  of  the  order  in  Maine  whose 
faithfulness  never  faltered,  and  whose  zeal  was  never 
relaxed  Avhere  their  services  were  needed.  But  such 
names  as  Joshua  Nye,  of  Waterville,  of  John  S.  Kim- 
ball, of  Bangor,  of  H.  K.  Morrell,  of  Gardiner,  of  Sam- 
uel L.  Carleton,  of  Portland,  are  never  to  be  omitted 
from  any  story  of  the  progress  of  temperance  in 
Maine  —  men  whom  no  personal  sacrifice  could  deter 
from  constant  efforts  for  the  good  of  the  state. 


OF   XEAL    DOW.  309 

Temperance  Watchmen  clubs  were  organized  in 
1851,  and  before  the  close  of  that  year,  there  were 
over  a  hundred  of  them,  every  city  and  all  the  larger 
towns  having  one  or  more.  These  were  composed 
largely  of  young  men,  zealous  friends  of  the  legal 
prohibition  of  the  liquor-traffic,  who  made  it  a  special 
duty  to  see  that  the  laws  against  the  trade  were 
vigorously  enforced.  They  also  had  much  to  do  with 
the  quiet,  political  work  through  which  old  party 
lines  were  crossed  and  recrossecl  by  so  many  voters  in 
efforts  to  sustain  Prohibition  in  its  earlier  days  in 
Maine. 

Later,  in  1860,  the  order  of  Good  Templars  found 
its  way  into  the  state,  and  in  August  of  that  year, 
delegates  from  eleven  subordinate  lodges  were  organ- 
ized as  a  Grand  Lodge.  This  order  had  the  following 
declaration  of  principles: 

Total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage. 

No  license  in  any  form  or  under  any  circumstances,  for  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  to  be  used  as  a  beverage. 

The  absolute  prohibition  of  the  manufacture,  importation 
and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  for  such  purposes  ;  prohibition 
by  the  will  of  the  people,  expressed  in  due  form  of  law,  with 
the  penalties  deserved  for  a  crime  of  such  enormity. 

The  creation  of  a  healthy  pu])lic  opinion  upon  the  subject, 
by  the  active  dissemination  of  truth  in  all  the  modes  known  to 
an  enlightened  philanthropy. 

The  election  of  good,  honest  men  to  administer  the  laws. 

Persistence  in  efforts  to  save  individuals  and  communities 
from  so  direful  a  scourge  against  all  forms  of  opposition  and 
difficulty,  till  our  success  is  complete  and  universal. 

This  was  the  first  organization  to  acknowledge  the 
right  and  duty  of  women  to  labor  equally  with  men 
in  the  temperance  reform.  The  order  has  always 
recognized  the  necessity  for  activity  in  efforts  to 
enforce  the  Maine    Law,   and  during   the  agitation 

21 


310  KEMINISCENCES 

for  the  constitutional  proLiibitory  amendment,  many 
thousands  of  petitions  were  presented  to  the  legisla- 
ture through  its  agency,  and  during  the  campaign  for 
the  popular  apijroval  of  the  amendment,  the  order 
which  at  that  time  included  a  membership  of  more 
than  twenty  thousand,  expended  much  money  in 
keeping  speakers  in  the  field  favorable  to  the  propo- 
sition. 

It  has  included  in  its  ranks  a  large  number  of  most 
faithful  and  efficient  friends  of  the  cause,  men  and 
women,  who  have  never  tired  in  well-doing.  Among 
those  whom  I  recall  as  having  been  connected  Avith 
the  order,  not  elsewhere  mentioned,  are  Major  H.  A. 
Shorey,  Rev.  David  Boyd,  Rev.  Smith  Baker,  Rev. 
H.  C.  Munson.  No  record  of  Good-Templarism  in 
Maine  would  be  complete  that  should  omit  the  name 
of  George  E.  Brackett,  of  Belfast,  now  and  for  a  long 
time  its  efficient  secretary,  as  well  as  editor  and  pub- 
lisher of  the  Maine  Temjjerance  Record. 

At  the  head  of  the  Good  Templars  in  Maine  for  a 
time  was  Nelson  Dingley,  Jr.,  afterwards  governor, 
and  now  a  member  of  Congress  from  this  state.  Able, 
honest,  indefatigable  and  conscientious  in  everything 
he  undertakes.  Governor  Dingley  is  sure  to  be  useful 
and  influential  in  any  movement  that  is  fortunate 
enough  to  secure  his  approval  and  assistance.  Maine 
owes  much  to  him  for  what  he  has  done  for  her  in 
various  fields,  but  friends  of  temperance  here  and 
everywhere  have  reason  to  be  especially  thankful  to 
him  for  his  constant,  unswerving,  and  consistent 
devotion  to  that  cause. 

The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  found 
its  way  into  Maine  in  1875,  the  year  after  the  national 
body  of  that  name  was  organized  at  Cleveland.     It  is 


Mks.   I,.   .M.   N.   Stkvkns. 
President  Wimikhi's  Christian  Temperance  I'nion. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  311 

the  lineal  descendant  of  the  Woman's  Temperance 
crusade  of  1873-74.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  other 
societies  to  say  that  it  is  to-day  the  largest,  best 
organized,  and  most  influential  temperance  society  in 
the  country.  It  has  attained  this  position  by  brains, 
conscience,  and  true,  persistent  and  sympathetic  work. 
The  temperance  cause  in  all  its  departments  is  its  main 
field  of  labor,  and  to  this  it  devotes  its  thought 
and  energy.  From  a  very  small  beginning,  the  Union 
has  been  brought  up  in  a  few  years  to  its  present 
commanding  position  in  this  country,  only  by  the 
wisdom,  prudence,  singular  devotedness  and  persis- 
tent work  of  the  women  who  lead  in  its  great 
endeavor  to  protect  wives,  mothers,  children  and 
homes  from  the  brutal,  murderous  warfare  upon 
them  by  the  saloons. 

It  has  been  my  great  pleasure  to  have  made  the 
personal  acquaintance  of  its  able,  devoted  and 
efficient  leader.  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard,"  and  I  have 
been  much  impressed  by  the  zeal  and  devotion  which 
she  has  brought  to  the  work  to  which  she  has  conse- 
crated herself.  The  first  president  of  the  Union  in 
Maine  was  Mrs.  Charles  F.  Allen,  the  wife  of  the 
chaplain  of  the  Maine  legislature  that  enacted  the 
original  Maine  Law.  Its  present  presiding  officer  is 
Mrs.  L.  M.  N.  Stevens,  who  has  held  the  position  since 
1878  and  has  given  to  the  Union,  and  to  the  cause 
which  she  serves,  most  unreservedly  of  her  time  and 
strength.  With  Mrs.  Stevens,  as  with  Miss  Willard, 
there  is  no  such  word  as  failure;  neither  knows  what 
it  is  to  be  discouraged.  They  furnish  a  noble  exam- 
ple to  the  women  of  this  country,  which  I  am  cheered 
to  believe  is  to  find  year  by  year  constantly  increasing 

*  Since  deceased. 


312  REMINISCENCES    OF    NEAL    DOW. 

numbers  of  those  who,  profiting  by  it,  like  them,  will 
inspire  others  to  self-sacrificing  labors  for  the  uplift- 
ing of  the  race. 

I  regret  that  it  has  been  impossible  for  me  to  men- 
tion the  names  of  large  numbers  of  those  who  were 
engaged  in  revolutionizing  the  public  sentiment  of 
our  state.  Many  men  with  whom  I  was  intimately 
acquainted,  and  many  whom  I  did  not  know,  were 
constantly  engaged  in  unselfish,  self-sacrificing  labor 
greatly  contributing  to  that  end.  Almost  every  town 
had  its  temperance  organization,  and  every  village 
had  its  representatives  devoted  to  laying  broad  and 
deep  in  the  intelligence  and  conscience  of  the  people 
that  foundation  upon  which  it  was  subsequently 
possible  to  erect  and  maintain  the  principle  of  Prohi- 
bition. Those  men  encountered  the  same  opposition 
and  were  exposed  to  the  same  dangers  as  were  those 
to  whom  I  have  referred  by  name.  Many  to  whom 
the  cause  of  temperance  is  greatly  indebted  for  untir- 
ing labor  passed  away  long  before  much  progress  was 
made.  For  the  examples  they  set,  for  the  lessons  they 
taught,  for  the  sacrifices  they  made  in  behalf  of  their 
fellow-men  and  the  state  in  which  they  lived,  for  tlie 
unselfish  services  they  so  freely  gave,  and  for  the 
abundant  good  they  accomplished,  the  state  of  Maine 
is  and  always  must  remain  indebted. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


ELECTIONS    AFFECTED    BY    PROHIBITION.         SHARP    CONTESTS 
IN     REPRESENTATIVE     DISTRICTS.  MY     NOMINATION 

AND      ELECTION     AS      MAYOR     OF      PORTLAND. 
REFERENCE      IN      MY      INAUGURAL      TO 
PROHIBITORY  LEGISLATION.       AC- 
TION    OF     CITY     GOVERN- 
MENT     THEREON. 


The  law  of  1846  had  not  found  its  way  into  the 
statutes  of  Maine  without  political  action.  Earnest 
men  do  not  long  permit  themselves  to  ask  legislatures 
in  vain  for  what  they  are  impelled  by  their  consciences 
to  seek,  without  endeavoring  to  make  up  those  bodies 
of  men  who  will  vote  there  for  what  is  demanded  by 
those  who  elect  them.  Again  and  again,  as  we  have 
seen,  beginning  with  1837,  the  more  active  among 
the  temperance  men  of  Maine  had  been  asking  for 
Prohibition,  only  to  be  refused  by  the  legislators. 
Something  more  than  petitioning  must  be  done,  if 
they  were  to  obtain  what  they  asked ;  that  could  only 
be  done  at  the  polls. 

Immediately  upon  the  advent  of  the  prohibitory 
agitation  it  began  to  have  its  effect,  almost  imper- 
ceptibly, here  and  there  through  the  state,  in  the 
election  of  members  of  the  legislature.     The  prepara- 


314  KEMINISCENCES 

tory  school  for  this  had  been  furnished  in  the 
local-option  law  under  which,  to  some  extent  since 
1829,  and  much  more  frequently  after  1835,  voters  in 
the  various  municipalities  had  acted,  without  ref- 
erence to  general  politics,  upon  the  question  of 
license  or  no-license  in  their  respective  towns. 

In  these  contests  temperance  Democrats  and  Whigs 
found,  perhaps  in  some  cases  to  their  surprise,  that 
they  could  act  together  with  reference  to  any  question 
as  to  which  they  thought  alike,  Avithout  serious 
detriment  to  their  personal  comfort,  happiness  and 
well-being.  Some  of  these  contests,  which  were  in 
the  spring,  developed  feeling  intense  enough  to  last 
until  fall,  when  party  lines  were  drawn  again  for  the 
state  election. 

Then  it  was  natural  that  a  temperance  Democrat 
should  prefer  to  vote  for  a  Whig  for  representative  to 
the  legislature  with  whom  he  had  acted  in  the  spring 
for  no-license,  perhaps  against  the  rumselling  tavern- 
keeper,  who  was  the  nominee  of  his  own  party,  and 
whom  he  had  found  favoring  license  a  few  months 
before.  Similarly,  a  no-license  Whig  was  more 
inclined  to  support  a  Democrat  in  September,  who 
with  him  had  opposed  license  in  March,  than  to  vote 
for  the  Whig  candidate  who  might  have  been  virulent 
in  his  opposition  to  the  "temperance  cranks."  This 
was  generally  done  quietly  for  fear  of  the  party 
leaders,  and  for  some  time  was  only  effective  in  close 
districts. 

The  numerous  temperance  meetings  all  tended  in 
the  same  direction,  with  the  result  that  there  was  a 
gradual  weeding  process,  whereby  those  whose  busi- 
ness or  whose  habits  rendered  them  the  most  obnox- 
ious to  the  temperance-element  were  left  out  of  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  315 

legislature.  After  a  time  it  became  apparent  to  the 
local  political  leaders  on  both  sides  that  a  licensed 
taverner  or  other  liquor-seller  was  not  available  as  a 
candidate,  and  such  would  not  be  nominated  by 
either  side.  There  were  exceptions,  but  on  the  whole 
there  was  general  progress  in  that  direction,  though 
sometimes  there  would  be  local  reactions. 

MeauAvhile  a  healthier  general  sentiment  upon  the 
whole  subject  was  being  developed  through  the  action 
of  the  various  agencies  and  methods  of  work  already 
noted.  Shortly  after  the  appearance  of  the  "Liberty 
party"  in  the  state  this  process  proceeded  more 
rapidly.  Its  two  most  conspicuous  leaders  were 
General  James  Appleton  and  General  Samuel  Fessen- 
den,  both  most  earnest  friends  of  temperance.  Its 
legislative  nominees  were  without  exception  friends 
of  Prohibition,  and  the  few  who  succeeded  at  the 
polls,  in  the  earlier  days  of  that  party,  did  so  by  the 
aid  of  temperance  Democrats  and  Whigs  in  districts 
where  the  nominees  of  those  two  parties  were  inimical 
to  Prohibition. 

In  those  days  it  required  a  majority  vote  to  elect 
members  of  the  legislature,  and  in  some  instances 
where  temperance  men  and  Free-Soilers  united  on  the 
same  candidate  the  contests  were  exciting  and  pro- 
longed. It  fell  to  my  lot  on  one  occasion  to  occupy 
the  position  of  independent  candidate  for  the  legisla- 
ture from  Portland.  It  happened  this  way:  Politi- 
cally, Portland  was  ordinarily  Whig,  in  the  days  of 
that  party,  by  a  safe  margin,  but  at  the  state  election 
of  1847,  two  of  its  three  Whig  candidates  for  the 
legislature  failed  of  an  election.  One  was  William 
Pitt  Fessenden,  who,  having  already  served  one  term 
in  Congress,  was  about  re-entering  politics. 


316  REMINISCENCES 

A  day  or  two  after  the  state  election,  Mr.  Fessenden 
called  on  me  and  inquired  as  to  the  reasons  for  the 
opposition  to  his  election.  The  conversation  resulted 
in  explanations  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of  Prohibi- 
tion, and  at  the  special  election  called  to  fill  the  two 
vacancies  he  was  chosen.  His  associate  was  Hon. 
Phineas  Barnes.  Mr.  Barnes  was  a  gentleman  of 
marked  ability,  unexceptional  life,  of  positive  opin- 
ions, and  of  a  sufficient  degree  of  firmness  to  hold  him 
steadfast  to  whatever  position  he  had  taken.  He  was 
at  that  time  the  editor  of  the  Whig  paper  in  Portland. 
He  also  had  an  interview  with  me  in  which  he 
declared  himself  unwilling  to  support  the  measure 
the  temperance  men  desired.  I  gave  him  to  under- 
stand that  the  temperance  men  would  not  support 
him,  and  he  replied,  "I  will  bide  my  time,  and  we 
will  see  who  will  get  the  worst  of  it."  His  election 
was  again  prevented,  though  he  had  a  large  plurality. 

Between  this  and  the  next  balloting,  political, 
business,  and  social  pressure  had  been  brought  to 
bear  so  heavily  upon  the  temperance  candidate  that 
he  declined  to  run  again,  and  for  want  of  any  one  else 
disposed  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  now  bitter  struggle, 
I  was  made  a  candidate  in  his  place.  After  this  there 
were  seven  ballotings,  in  two  of  which  I  received 
more  votes  than  either  of  the  regular  candidates, 
before  the  contest  was  decided  by  the  election  of  Mr. 
Barnes.  This  struggle  lasted  long  enough  for  a  cap- 
tain of  a  Portland  vessel,  engaged  in  the  West  India 
trade,  to  start  on  a  trip  to  Cuba,  after  voting  at  the 
first  trial,  and  return  in  season  to  vote  at  the  last. 

An  amusing  incident  connected  with  that  voyage 
to  Cuba  was  related  to  me  liy  my  friend,  the  captain 
referred    to.       One   day   while   his  vessel    was  at  a 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  317 

West  India  port,  an  English  man-of-war  engaged  in 
practice-firing  at  a  mark,  a  hogshead  having  been 
moored  at  some  distance  to  serve  as  such.  After 
several  ineffectual  shots  from  "Her  Majesty's  ship," 
my  friend,  the  captain  of  the  Portland  merchantman, 
caused  its  ' '  Long-Tom  "  to  be  loaded.  Then  training 
it  on  the  mark  he  fired  and  blew  the  hogshead  into 
smithereens.  A  few  moments  after  he  saw  a  boat  put 
off  from  the  Englishman  and  make  for  his  vessel. 
Soon  a  young  English  naval  officer,  in  full  uniform, 
came  over  the  side  of  the  Portland  ship,  and,  with 
great  difficulty  suppressing  his  own  amusement, 
succeeded  finally  in  asking  in  the  name  of  the  com- 
mandant of  ' '  Her  Majesty's  ship  "  if  the  destruction 
of  that  mark  was  intended  as  an  insult.  Everything 
of  the  kind  was  disclaimed. ,  Then  my  friend  quietly 
assured  his  visitor  that  his  only  intent  was  to  show  the 
Englishmen  how  to  fire,  whereat  the  officer  most 
politely  withdrew,  leaving  the  captain  with  a  private 
assurance  that  he  had  made  a  most  capital  shot. 

During  all  that  contest  the  city,  or  at  least  the 
political  part  of  its  population,  was  much  stirred  up. 
Political,  personal,  and  social  ties  and  friendships 
were  disturbed  with  lasting  unpleasantness.  For 
years  the  relations  between  Mr.  Barnes  and  myself 
were  much  strained,  but  as  his  correct,  honorable, 
and  useful  life  was  drawing  to  its  close,  a  message 
from  him  to  me  led  to  mutual  expressions  of  most 
kindly  feeling. 

Among  other  more  fortunate  effects  of  that  pro- 
longed contest,  politicians  of  both  sides  learned 
through  it  that  the  temperance  men  of  Maine  were 
much  in  earnest,  and  for  reasonable  cause  would  be 
likely  to  interfere  with  the  plans  of  party  leaders. 


818  REMINISCENCES 

To  prevent  such  troublesome  contests  in  the  future, 
and  to  weaken  the  influence  of  independent  political 
movements,  the  plurality  system  was  adopted  in 
the  choice  of  representatives  to  the  legislature.  To 
this  the  temperance  men  said:  ' '  Well,  we  can  easier 
obtain  a  plurality  than  a  majority  of  votes,  and,  if 
need  be,  will  set  about  it. " 

With  the  enactment  of  the  law  of  1846,  the  move- 
ment for  Prohibition  became  marked  as  a  disturbing 
element  in  the  politics  of  Maine.  On  the  one  hand, 
its  friends  were  earnest  in  their  desire  that  it  should 
be  so  amended  as  to  make  it  more  effective;  on  the 
other,  the  attempt  to  enforce  even  its  inadecpiate 
penalties  had  excited  a  virulent  opposition,  not  only  to 
the  law  and  its  friends,  but  to  the  principle  it 
embodied.  When,  therefore,  the  time  for  the  nomi- 
nation of  members  of  the  next  legislature  drew  near, 
both  sides  were  evident  in  political  caucuses  and 
conventions. 

Numerous  petitions  had  been  presented  to  the 
legislature  of  1849  asking  for  the  passage  of  a  law 
which,  as  I  said  before  the  committee  to  which  the 
petitions  were  presented,  would  enable  the  authorities 
to  "ferret  out  and  suppress  the  grog-shops."  Many  of 
the  provisions  sought  at  that  time  were  similar  to 
those  afterwards  incori)orated  in  the  law  of  1851. 
The  measure,  debated  at  length  in  both  houses  of 
the  legislature,  passed  both  branches  and  was  sent  to 
tlie  executive.  This  was  in  the  closing  days  of  the 
session.  By  a  constitutional  provision,  if  a  bill  was 
sent  to  the  governor  within  three  days  of  adjourn- 
ment he  could  retain  it  for  consideration  until  the 
third  day  of  the  next  session.  Accordingly,  on  the 
last  day,  Governor  Dana,  in  a  message  to  the  legisla- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  319 

ture,  stated  that  the  provisions  of  the  bill  were  so 
extraordinary  that  he  was  not  prepared  to  approve  it 
and  withheld  it  for  further  consideration. 

Almost  immediately  petitions  began  to  pour  in  upon 
the  Governor,  urging  him  to  approve  the  bill,  thou- 
sands so  expressing  their  desire  for  the  law,  but  they 
availed  nothing.  At  the  opening  of  the  next  legisla- 
ture, just  before  he  retired  from  office.  Governor  Dana 
sent  a  veto  message  to  the  house.  From  that  day  to 
this  nothing  has  been  urged  against  Prohibition  that 
was  not  expressed  or  implied  in  what  Governor  Dana 
had  to  say  nearly  half  a  century  ago.  Since  then, 
Avhether  emanating  from  pulpit,  from  bench,  from 
the  halls  of  legislation,  or  from  any  other  center  from 
which  influences  beneficial  to  the  people  are  sup- 
posed to  radiate,  or  from  behind  the  bars  of  open 
grog-shops,  from  the  moral  miasma  generated  in  hot- 
beds of  vice  and  crime,  or  from  any  other  quarter 
inimical  to  enlightenment  and  progress,  all  that  has 
been  urged  against  Prohibition  has  been  little  else 
than  a  repetition  of  what  that  message  contained. 

What  Governor  Dana  said  might  be  urged  with 
equal  force  against  the  entire  criminal  code.  Laws 
may  not  make  men  honest,  but  in  prohibiting  the 
reception  of  stolen  goods  they  lessen  temptations  to 
theft;  legislation  may  not  make  men  virtuous,  but  in 
prohibiting  specified  acts  it  reduces  allurements  to 
vice.  Criminals,  to  avoid  detection,  w^ink  at  the  sup- 
pression of  truth,  encourage  falsehood,  and  perpetrate 
perjury  when  they  can  thus  evade  penalties.  Detect- 
ives often  run  down  a  criminal  by  deceiving  and 
holding  out  false  pretenses.  Yet  Governor  Dana  did 
not  suggest  a  reconstruction  of  the  criminal  laws  of 
Maine,  that  thieves,  burglars,  and  other  malefactors 


320  KEMINISCENCES 

might,  througli  a  general  permission  to  commit  crime 
in  the  open,  be  relieved  of  the  temptation  to  deceit 
and  hypocrisy  incident  to  efforts  to  escape  punishment. 
The  house  refused  to  pass  the  bill  over  the  veto, 
and  it  failed,  therefore,  to  become  a  law.  That  veto, 
though  not  unexpected  by  the  friends  of  Prohibition, 
was  nevertheless  a  great  disappointment.  It  had  long 
been  known  that  the  Governor  was  carefully  consider- 
ing whether  he  should  approve  the  measure,  and  it 
was  feared  that  matters  of  a  purely  political  nature 
were  having  great  weight  in  his  deliberations.  He 
was  taking  counsel  of  some  of  the  leaders  of  his  party, 
and  when  finally  the  veto  came  it  was  believed  that  it 
was  prompted  by  their  fear  that  the  law  would  prove 
disastrous  to  the  political  organization  of  which  he 
was  the  titular  head  in  the  state. 

Governor  Dana's  political  life  ended  with  that  veto. 
Two  years  later,  substantially  the  same  measure 
became  a  law,  having  been  passed  in  both  branches  by 
an  overwhelming  vote  and  approved  by  his  successor 
in  the  gubernatorial  chair.  Subsequently,  after  a 
test  of  many  years'  experience,  by  a  popular  vote  of 
more  than  three  to  one,  the  policy  of  Prohil:)ition  was 
made  a  part  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  state.  Had 
Governor  Dana  lived  a  few  years  longer,  he  would 
have  seen,  through  the  direct  and  indirect  influence 
of  the  policy  he  contemned,  a  large  portion  of  his 
state  practically  freed  from  the  evils  which  he  pre- 
dicted would  only  be  increased  thereby. 

Disappointed,  to  be  sure,  but  not  discouraged,  by 
the  action  of  Governor  Dana,  the  friends  of  Prohibi- 
tion began  anew.  Petitions  for  a  prohibitory  law 
were  again  circulated  and  presented  to  the  legislature. 
I  explained  and  advocated   before  the  special  com- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  321 

mittee  to  which  they  were  referred  substantially  the 
same  bill  which  was  afterwards  known  as  ' '  the  Maine 
law."  The  committee  reported  favorably,  and  the  bill 
passed  the  house,  but  was  lost  in  the  senate  by  a  tie 
vote.  Governor  Dana  had  by  this  time  yielded  the 
executive  chair  to  Governor  Hubbard.  Nevertheless, 
so  large  a  vote  in  the  legislature  favorable  to  a  bill 
substantially  the  same  as  that  vetoed  by  the  retiring 
governor  was  a  matter  of  great  encouragement  to  its 
friends. 

The  legislature  in  both  branches  was  largely  in 
political  sympathy  with  Governor  Dana,  who  was  a 
man  of  ability  and  influence,  and  justly  entitled  to 
leadership  among  his  political  associates.  The  wil- 
lingness, therefore,  of  so  many  to  go  on  record  in 
opposition  to  his  views  indicated  the  deep  hold  which 
Prohibition  had  obtained  upon  the  people  of  Maine. 
Such  action  naturally  threatened  discord  in  the  domi- 
nant political  organization,  yet  a  large  number  of  its 
voters  were  willing  to  risk  that,  if  need  be,  for  the 
sake  of  the  advantages  sure  to  inure  to  society  from 
the  outlawry  of  a  traffic  the  evil  efi:ects  of  which  were 
apparent  on  every  hand.  From  that  legislative  action 
it  was  evident  that  Prohibition  was  to  come  to  the 
front  with  the  approval  of  the  people  of  Maine,  what- 
ever should  befall  political  leaders  and  whatever 
might  happen  to  political  parties. 

The  bill,  which  had  so  nearly  become  a  law,  was 
published  and  extensively  circulated  through  the 
state  after  the  adjournment  of  the  legislature.  I 
wrote  a  series  of  articles,  analyzing  and  explaining  its 
features.  It  attracted  much  attention,  and  was  dis- 
cussed in  temperance  meetings  generally.  Its  friends 
in  all  parties  labored  in  their  respective  primaries  and 


322  EEMINISCEXCES 

conventions  to  secure  nominees  for  the  legislature 
favorable  to  its  provisions.  After  the  election  peti- 
tions were  circulated,  asking  for  the  passage  of  that 
particular  measure. 

Such  was  the  general  condition  of  public  sentiment 
when,  some  time  in  the  winter  of  1850-51,  my  attention 
was  called  to  the  matter  of  becoming  a  candidate  for 
mayor  of  Portland.  It  was  urged  that  my  nomination 
and  election,  because  of  my  thorough  identification 
with  the  policy  of  Prohibition,  would  be  of  great 
advantage  to  that  movement.  But  there  were  some 
difficulties  in  the  way.  It  was  not  probable  that  an 
independent  nomination  would  result  in  my  election, 
and  although  I  was  nominally  a  Whig  I  had  so  fre- 
quently bolted  that  ticket  that  it  was  hardly  to  be 
expected  that  Whig  leaders  would  take  kindly  to  the 
suggestion.  It  was,  however,  finally  decided  in  a 
council  of  a  few  of  our  friends  to  appeal  to  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  party,  where  many  strong  temperance 
men  were  to  be  found. 

The  custom  was  for  the  Whigs  of  the  various  wards 
to  choose  delegates,  who  afterwards  in  convention  se- 
lected a  candidate  whose  name  was  then  presented  at 
a  mass-meeting  on  the  eve  of  election  for  ratification, 
or  nomination.  This  latter  gathering,  to  be  sure,  was 
only  a  matter  of  form,  the  selection  made  by  the  lead- 
ers in  the  convention  being  invariably  endorsed  at  the 
mass-meeting.  That  year,  however,  matters  were  dif- 
ferent. The  Whig  ward-caucuses  were  unusually 
large,  surprisingly  so  to  the  old  leaders  of  the  party, 
who  saw  the  management  taken  out  of  their  hands  by 
men  rarely  attending  to  details  of  party  affairs.  The 
delegates  chosen  voted  to  recommend  my  name  to  the 
ratifying  mass-meeting,  and  then  the  fight  was  on. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  323 

The  federal  offices  in  Portland  were  held  by  the 
"Whigs  under  the  Taylor-Fillinore  administration. 
The  non-interference  of  officials  with  party  manage- 
ment had  not  then  been  preached  to  any  effective 
extent,  and  the  collector  of  the  port  and  the  postmas- 
ter of  the  city,  both  most  estimable  gentlemen,  made 
it  very  evident  that  they  were  opposed  in  general  to 
having  the  management  taken  out  of  their  hands,  and 
especially,  particularly,  and  earnestly  to  my  nomi- 
nation. To  be  frank,  I  was  not  surprised  that  they 
were  unfavorable  to  my  selection.  It  would  have 
been  a  matter  for  wonder  had  they  favored  it. 

Whatever  their  real  motive  may  have  been,  they 
liad  a  sound  enough  objection  from  a  party  point 
of  view  to  urge  against  me.  I  was  not  a  ' '  reliable  '' 
Whig.  I  had  ' '  bolted  "  the  regular  nominees  of  that 
party,  was  "likely  to  do  it  again,"  they  urged.  They 
dwelt  especially  upon  the  representative  struggle  of 
three  or  four  years  before;  they  referred  to  the  fact 
that  more  recently  enough  votes  had  been  given  to  me 
to  prevent  the  election  by  the  people  of  the  regular 
Whig  candidate  for  mayor,  the  official  at  that  time 
serving.  No  man,  they  insisted,  with  such  a  party 
record  as  that,  was  entitled  to  a  party  nomination. 

The  day  intervening  between  the  choice  of  the 
delegates  and  the  assembling  of  the  convention  was 
used  by  the  leaders  in  efforts  to  convince  delegates 
that  I  ought  not  to  be  nominated;  but  meeting  with  no 
success  in  the  convention  they  turned  their  attention 
to  the  mass-meeting,  and  rallied  quite  a  following 
there  to  aid  an  effort  to  prevent  the  ratification  of 
the  nomination  reported  by  the  mayoralty  convention. 
The  mass-meeting  assembled  in  the  old  City  Hall, 
which    had    witnessed   so    many    contests    over    the 


324  REMINISCENCES 

temperance  qnestion.  When  the  motion  was  made 
that  my  nomination  be  ratified,  the  collector  took  the 
jQoor  and  made  an  earnest  speech  against  it.  I  was  a 
"bolter,"  he  said.  I  had  run  against  the  regular 
party  nominee;  I  was  no  Whig  and  ought  not  to  be 
nominated  by  Whigs,  and  if  nominated  would  have 
no  claim  upon  the  party  for  support. 

The  opposition  manifested  by  those  leaders  during 
the  day  had  led  to  an  unusual  attendance  at  the  mass- 
meeting,  with  my  friends  largely  in  the  majority. 
To  add  to  the  certainty  of  the  discomfiture  of  the 
collector,  the  Hon.  Henry  Carter,  now  Judge  Carter, 
of  Haverhill.  Mass.,*  at  the  time  editor  of  the  A¥hig 
daily  paper  of  Portland,  called  the  attention  of  the 
meeting  to  the  fact  that  the  collector  had  appointed  to 
positions  in  the  Custom  House  temperance  Whigs  who 
had  bolted  in  1847  with  me,  and  insisted  that  if  those 
Whigs  were  to  be  permitted  to  warm  their  feet  in  the 
customs  service,  while  other  regular  Whigs  desiring 
their  positions  were  left  out  in  the  cold,  the  gentleman 
suggested  by  the  mayoralty  convention  was  a  good 
enough  AVhig  to  be  supported  by  the  party  after 
having  been  proposed  as  a  candidate  in  the  orthodox 
Whig  way.  This  ingenious  appeal  to  the  disappointed 
"outs  "  of  the  party  added  to  the  temperance-element 
already  in  control  of  the  meeting  such  a  contingent  of 
the  active  workers  of  the  party  that  my  nomination 
was  overwhelmingly  ratified. 

The  leaders  of  the  discomfited  minority,  however, 
were  not  satisfied.  After  the  adjournment  they 
called  together  a  few  of  their  trusted  retainers,  had 
the  Whig  ticket  printed  for  the  various  wards, 
straight  in  every  particular  except  that  it   bore  as 

*  Since  deceased. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  325 

that  of  a  candidate  for  mayor  the  name  of  a  highly 
respectable  citizen,  Hon.  Joseph  C.  Noyes,  elsewhere 
referred  to  as  at  one  time  president  of  the  Maine 
Temperance  Union.  They  organized  a  corps  of  vote- 
distributors  for  work  at  the  polls  the  next  day,  and 
took  other  measures  to  defeat  me.  Mr.  Noyes  had  no 
opportunity  to  prevent  this  use  of  his  name,  as  he 
knew  nothing  about  it  until  he  saw  it  upon  the 
bolting  ticket  when  he  went  to  the  polls. 

My  friends  were  taken  by  surprise  as  completely  as 
was  Mr.  Noyes,  knowing  nothing  about  it  until  the 
polls  opened,  and  were,  therefore,  at  some  disadvan- 
tage. .  Nevertheless,  when  the  votes  were  counted,  it 
was  found  that  I  had  received  a  majority  of  those  cast 
in  the  city  proper.  But  the  "islands,"  which  in  those 
days  sometimes  voted  and  sometimes  did  not,  threw  so 
many  votes  for  my  competitor,  who  afterwards  was 
better  known  as  General,  and  still  later  as  United 
States  Judge,  George  F.  Shepley,  that  I  lacked  eleven 
votes  of  an  election.     There  was  no  choice. 

The  outcome  was  more  of  a  disappointment  to  the 
leaders  than  to  my  friends.  The  former  had  pre- 
vented my  election,  to  be  sure,  but  they  were 
astounded  upon  learning  that,  despite  their  efforts,  I 
had  received  more  votes  than  had  ever  been  given  to 
any  candidate  for  mayor,  save  one,  in  the  history  of 
Portland,  and  this  though  they  had  led  off  in  their 
bolt  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  normal  AVliig  vote  of 
the  city.  These  figures  convinced  them  that,  if  my 
friends  had  not  been  taken  by  surprise,  my  election 
would  have  been  sure.  They  decided,  therefore,  not 
to  "vote  in  the  air  "at  the  next  trial,  which,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  charter  would  be  in  about  two 
weeks,  but  to  vote  for  the  Democratic  nominee. 


326  KEMINISCENCES 

Various  expedients  were  adopted  by  them  to  make 
sure  of  my  discomfiture  on  that  day.  One  was  to  send 
some  of  the  active  temperance  Whigs,  holding  official 
positions  under  the  United  States  government,  out  of 
the  city,  to  attend  to  some  official  business  trumped 
up  for  the  occasion,  thus  depriving  me  of  their  votes 
and  assistance  at  the  polls.  But  it  was  of  no  avail. 
Steam  was  up,  and  my  friends,  having  been  fore- 
warned, were  ready  for  the  emergency,  and  I  was 
elected  by  a  larger  vote  than  had  ever  before  been 
given  to  a  candidate  for  mayor  of  Portland,  and  by  a 
majority  which  had  been  exceeded  but  twice  in  its 
history. 

The  Whig  paper,  referring  to  the  result  the  next 
day,  said  that  there  were  probably  more  Democrats 
who  had  voted  for  me  than  there  were  Whigs  who 
had  opposed  me.  But  that  was  cold  comfort  for  the 
men  who  had  organized  and  led  the  movement  for  my 
defeat. 

As  far  as  I  can  recall,  the  only  points  urged  against 
me  in  the  canvass  by  the  Democrats  were  that  I 
was  a  "ramrod"  of  the  very  stiff  est  kind,  and  an 
"al^olitionist."  It  was  important,  therefore,  they 
insisted,  both  in  the  interest  of  ' '  reasonable  "  treat- 
ment of  the  liquor  question  and  the  "Union,"  which 
they  alleged  to  be  in  peril  because  of  the  abolitionists, 
that  I  should  be  defeated.  The  Union,  however, 
survived  my  election,  and  I  expect  to  show  that  the 
liquor  question  was  treated  during  my  administration 
in  the  most  "  reasonable  "  manner  i)ossible. 

Among  the  aldermen  elected  to  the  city  government 
was  my  old  friend  and  co-worker  in  temperance, 
William  W.  Tliomas.  I  may  here  mention  that  when, 
four    years    later,    I  was  again    elected  mayor,    Mr. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  327 

Thomas  also  consented  to  serve  as  alderman.  My 
election  was  naturally  regarded  as  a  distinct  triumph 
of  the  temperance  element  of  the  city,  although  the 
"regularity"  of  my  nomination  unquestionably  led 
Whigs  to  support  me  who  had  little  sympathy  either 
with  my  opinions  or  my  methods  touching  what  to 
me  was  the  most  important  issue,  viz. :  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  existing  laws  against  the  grog-shops.  It 
was  no  less  due,  therefore,  to  the  temperance  element 
than  it  was  in  accord  with  my  own  wishes  and  judg- 
ment that  the  opponents  of  the  liquor-traffic  should 
not  be  disappointed.  I  determined  to  meet  their  just 
expectations  if  possible. 

For  years  my  name  had  been  the  target  for  epithets 
of  every  kind  and  abuse  in  every  form,  save  that 
through  it  all  my  personal  and  business  integrity  was 
not  questioned.  I  had  now  been  elected  mayor  by  a 
larger  vote  than  any  other  candidate  for  that  position 
had  ever  received,  and  that  without  having  abated 
any  of  my  zeal,  or  changed  any  of  my  methods  in 
laboring  for  the  cause  to  which  I  had  for  years  been 
devoted.  In  view  of  that  fact,  my  election  was  most 
convincing  evidence  that  something  had  been  accom- 
plished toward  the  creation  of  a  healthy  public 
sentiment  with  reference  to  the  great  evil  I  had  been 
so  long  combating. 

Here  it  seems  not  inappropriate  to  say  something  of 
what  Portland  was  at  that  time  —  more  than  thirty 
years  ago.  It  has  greatly  increased  in  population, 
in  wealth,  and  in  the  number  and  character  of  its 
buildings.  Everywhere  are  evidences  of  thrift  and 
prosperity  far  in  advance  of  what  was  then  enjoyed. 
Then,  with  a  population  but  little  more  than  half 
its  present  number,  there  were  more  indications  of 


328  REMINISCENCES 

extreme  poverty  than  are  now  to  be  found.  I  will 
not  state  here  what  in  my  opinion  has  been  a  potent 
influence  in  this  particular  change. 

I  will  say  that  it  has  been  my  frequent  privilege  to 
conduct  about  the  city,  gentlemen  from  various  parts 
of  this  country  and  Great  Britain  in  recent  years  — 
men  who  had  traveled  extensively  and  were  familiar 
with  conditions  in  many  cities  in  this  and  other  lands. 
Repeatedly  have  I  heard  them  say  that  nowhere  in  all 
their  travels  had  they  found  in  a  place,  approaching 
the  size  of  Portland,  so  few  indications  of  extreme, 
abject  poverty  as  here.  Sometimes  after  a  drive  of 
an  hour  or  two  over  the  city,  covering  every  part  of 
its  three  miles  in  length  and  three-quarters  in  width, 
they  would  say,  ' '  Now  show  us  where  your  poor 
people  live."  "I  have  already  done  so."  "Impossi- 
ble! We  have  seen  no  such  poverty  as  we  refer  to." 
' '  Do  you  remember  the  names  of  some  of  the  streets 
we  have  passed  through?"  "Yes."  "Well,  here  is 
a  policeman,  let  us  inquire."  I  would  ask  the  offi- 
cer to  tell  the  gentlemen  the  names  of  the  streets 
inhabited  by  the  poorest  portions  of  our  population. 
As  he  would  mention  the  names  and  the  places 
were  recalled  by  the  visitors  they  would  exclaim, 
"Remarkable!"  "Wonderful!"  "We  have  never 
seen  the  like  l^ef ore ! "  Many  times  have  I  had 
occasion  for  just  such  conversations,  with  the  same 
results.  A  man  can  but  feel  pleasure  at  such  testi- 
mony as  to  his  native  city,  the  place  at  once  of  his 
l)irth,  liis  lif(*  and  liis  lal)()rs.  To  that,  in  another 
line,  I  am  able  to  add  that  this  country  has  not  passed 
through  a  financial  crisis  or  a  period  of  depression 
for  years  when  it  has  not  been  a  matter  for  remark 
among  those  avIio  have  been  so  situated  as  to  know. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  329 

that  Portland  —  and  for  that  matter  the  state  of 
Maine  —  has  borne  it  with  comparative  ease, 

I  will  not  say  what  I  think  has  contribnted  so 
largely  to  all  this,  which  must  be  so  gratifying-  to 
every  loyal  son  of  Maine  at  home  or  abroad;  but 
I  will  say  that  if  the  liquor-traffic  is  permitted'  to 
recover  the  ground  it  has  lost  in  Maine  he  who  thirty 
years  hereafter  shall  write  of  conditions  here  will  be 
unable  to  bear  such  testimony  as  I  have  given. 

In  writing  of  the  natural  advantages  of  Portland  I 
may  be  suspected  of  having  a  partiality  for  my  home, 
and  I  quote  from  an  article  written  by  one  of  these 
strangers  to  whom  I  have  referred,  just  after  the  close 
of  my  first  term  as  mayor.  It  was  published  then  in  a 
southern  paper,  the  writer  being  a  citizen  of  a  south- 
ern state.  Its  somewhat  florid  rhetoric  cannot  con- 
ceal the  natural  beauties  it  essays  to  portray.  While 
in  many  respects,  as  we  have  seen,  Portland  has 
greatly  changed  for  the  better  since  then,  her  nat- 
ural scenery  and  advantages  remain  the  same: 

"  I  could  but  wonder  that  the  southern  tourist,  who  is  so 
often  content  with  the  tame  scenery  and  steaming,  over- 
crammed  saloons  of  Saratoga,  should  rarely  ever  extend  his 
pilgrhnage  to  Portland,  the  commercial  capital  of  this  hardy, 
enterprising  and  ocean-laved  state.  Once  let  the  annual 
southern  tide  of  fashion  set  into  the  emerald  waters  of  Casco 
Bay,  it  would  forever  flow  there  as  constant  as  the  migrations 
of  birds  of  passage. 

' '  Portland  would  arrest  and  detain  the  southron  on  his  way 
to  the  White  Hills  of  New  Hampshire,  and  w^eave  a  web  of 
lasting  enchantment  around  his  senses.  Nor  to  the  senses 
alone  would  the  charm  be  limited.  It  w^ould  enchain  the 
judgment  and  the  affections,  as  I  will,  in  advance,  forewarn 
the  traveler  that  the  moral  and  intellectual  fascinations  of 
Portland  are  not  exceeded  even  by  the  charms  of  her  glorious 
.scenery 

"Portland  is  situated  on  a  peninsula  on  the  western  extremi- 


330  REMINISCENCES 

ty  of  Casco  Bay,  looking  eastward  and  northeastward  over 
the  three  hundred  ishmds  that  gem  the  pale  blue  background 
of  that  peerless  ocean  picture.  There  the  sea  is  a  living, 
tossing  element,  a  thing  of  life,  that  has  not  gone  to  take  a 
siesta  on  some  tame  and  interminable  stretch  of  sand-shore,  as 
in  the  southern  coasts  ;  there  the  tides  roll  in  and  dash  upon 
theiv  rocky  and  sul)lime  barriers  as  if  they  were  in  earnest, 
loved  the  sports  of  the  watery  gymnasium 

"How  beautiful  antl  sublime  from  the  sea  is  Portland  —  a 
city  three  miles  in  length,  by  three-fourths  of  a  mile  in  width, 
rising  like  an  ampitheatre  l^etween  two  hills,  with  regular 
streets,  magnificently  embowered  with  the  wide-spreading, 
ancient  elms,  the  maples  and  the  lindens.  On  the  hill  where 
the  ruins  of  the  old  provincial  Fort  Sumner  are  still  visible 
stands  the  lofty  observatory.  With  me,  southron,  ascend  it, 
and  confess  that  the  scenery  from  the  top  of  the  Bunker  Hill 
monument  is  tame  in  comparison.  Look  all  over  the  county 
of  Cumlierland,  and  see  scores  of  snow-white  villas  and 
villages  throw  tower  and  spire  heavenward.  Look  seaward  ; 
the  three  hundred  isles  of  Casco  Bay,  a  perfect,  linked  bead- 
work  of  beauty,  stretch  away  to  the  northeast.  South- 
easterly, the  eye  wanders,  unobstructed,  save  by  distance, 
over  the  breast  of  the  Atlantic,  that  touches  the  fast-anchored 
isle  of  Britain 

"  Look  to  the  northwest.  Heavens,  what  sublimity  !  The 
giant  White  Hills  of  New  Hampshire  stand  there,  cold  and 
passionless,  with  their  gray  sides  l)rightening  upward  into 
pale  blue,  then  into  white,  commercing  with  the  feathery 
clouds ;  or,  perhaps,  overlooking  a  black  thunder-storm 
ofrowlinir  in  vain  far  below  the  everlasting  silence  of  their 
sentinel  sunmiits." 

My  friend,  Dr.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  so  well  known  in 
connection  with  the  Roljert  college  in  Constantinople, 
told  ine  that  on  board  a  steamer  at  some  point  in  the 
Mediterranean  the  attention  of  a  group  of  passengers, 
of  whom  he  was  one,  was  called  to  the  scenery,  when 
one  of  the  party  remarked:  "I  have  never  seen  any- 
thing finer  than  that,  save  from  what  is  called  the 
Eastern  Promenade  in  the  city  of  Portland,  Maine,  in 
the  United  States."     Whereupon  Dr.  Hamlin  intro- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  331 

duced  himself  as  familiar  with  that  view,  and  was 
able  to  endorse  the  testimony  of  the  stranger  as 
to  the  delightful  outlook  afforded  from  that  point 
in  Portland. 

To  return  to  the  matter  of  my  election  as  mayor, 
I  was  inaugurated  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  April, 
1851,  and  my  address,  which  covered  as  Well  the 
topics  ordinarily  treated  in  such  papers,  after  refer- 
ring to  the  supposed  necessity  for  a  new  almshouse 
and  house  of  correction,  contained  the  following: 

"  In  my  opinion  the  present  almshouse  is  sufficiently 
spacious  and  may  be  rendered  comfortable  and  well  arranged, 
at  a  very  small  expense,  for  the  decent  and  proper  mainte- 
nance of  all  those  who  would  be  thrown  upon  the  city  for 
support,  but  for  the  illegal  traffic  in  intoxicatins;  drinks, 

"  I  call  your  attention  to  this  latter  subject,  as  one  of  deep 
importance  to  the  city,  in  every  point  of  view.  The  illegal 
traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  is  an  evil  of  frightful  magnitude, 
and  has  been  rapidly  increasing  among  us  within  the  two  or 
three  years  past.  The  inevitable  tendency  of  this  traffic  is  to 
impoverish  and  degrade  the  people ;  to  convert  sober  men  and 
good  citizens  into  drunkards  and  bad  members  of  society ;  to 
corrupt  the  young  and  inexperienced  —  and  to  render  many 
families  wretched  as  well  as  poor  —  which  but  for  this  busi- 
ness, would  be  prosperous  and  happy.  Our  almshouses,  our 
jails,  hospitals,  lunatic  asylums,  and  our  prisons  are  filled 
with  the  miserable  victims  of  this  odious  traffic,  which  is  the 
fruitful  parent  of  every  species  of  misery,  vice  and  crime, 
in  every  degree  of  intensity  —  while  it  has  no  redeeming 
feature ;  it  carries  poverty,  pauperism,  degradation,  crime, 
and  death  to  thousands,  while  it  benefits  nobody. 

"  There  is  no  fact  better  established  than  this,  that  the 
traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  tends  more  to  the  degradation 
and  impoverishment  of  the  people  than  all  other  causes  of  evil 
combined ;  its  existence  is  incompatible  with  the  general 
welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  community.  All  classes  of 
society  have  the  deepest  interest  in  its  suppression.  As  a 
question  of  domestic  and  political  economy,  of  earnings  and 
savings,  of  annual  accumulating  wealth  to  the  city,  this  sub- 
ject demands  the  highest  consideration.     I  have  good  reason 


332  EEMINISCEXCES 

to  believe  that  a  very  larirc  majority  of  the  people  of  this  city 
and  of  the  state,  are  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  some  ellectual 
measures  for  the  suppression  of  a  l)usiness  which  is  at  war 
with  every  principle  of  humanity  and  enlightened  patriotism, 
and  which  violates  the  law  of  God  as  well  as  the  law  of  the 
land. 

"  I  have  only  to  add,  that  any  measure  you  may  think  it 
proper  to  adopt,  tending  to  restrain  or  to  suppress  this  traffic, 
shall  have  my  cordial  co-operation.  This  subject  is  now 
exciting  the  attention  of  the  people  of  all  the  states  of  the 
Union  ;  and  it  has  l)een  considered  so  important  l)y  the  people 
of  Ohio  and  Michigan,  that  a  provision  has  1)een  inserted  in 
the  recently  revised  constitutions  of  those  states,  depriving 
their  legislatures  of  the  power  of  enacting  any  law  to  grant 
licenses'for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  providing  that 
such  liquors  shall  only  be  sold  for  medicinal  and  mechanical 
purposes. 

"In  the  larger  towns  and  cities  in  this  state,  no  decisive 
movement  can  be  made  to  suppress  the  numerous  drinking 
houses  and  tippling  shops  by  which  they  are  infested  without 
the  enactment  of  a  law  for  that  purpose  which  shall  be  suffi- 
ciently stringent  in  its  provisions  and  summary  in  its 
processes  to  effect  its  objects.  I  commend  this  subject  to 
your  attention,  as  one  eminently  worthy  your  regard." 

That  portion  of  my  message  relating  to  the  liqnor- 
trafiic  was  referred  to  a  special  committee  which 
subsequently  reported: 

*'  Resolved,  That  the  illegal  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  is 
highly  injurious  to  every  counnunity  in  which  it  is  tolerated  ; 
that  it  tends  directly  to  impoverish  and  degrade  the  i)cople  ; 
that  it  is  the  cause  of  a  hirge  proportion  of  the  pauperism  and 
crime  which  exist  among  us ;  that  it  tends  to  seduce  the 
young  and  inexperienced  from  the  path  of  virtue,  and  to  pro- 
duce i)ad  men  and  l)ad  citizens,  while  it  })encfits  nol)ody,  and 
no  interests,  either  pul)lic  or  })rivate,  are  advanced  l)y  it. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  city  council  regards  the  suppression 
of  the  illegal  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  as  an  object  of 
great  public  importance,  which  is  only  to  be  accomplished 
elfectually  by  the  enactment  of  a  law  for  that  purpose, 
stringent  in  its  provisions  and  summary  in  its  processes  ;  and 
that  "they    believe    an    act    siiuiliir    in    its    provisions   to  that 


Neal  Dow  at  47  \kaks. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  333 

reported  at  the  last  session  of  the  legislature  will  ciml)le  the 
authorities  of  the  city  to  suppress  that  traffic  within  its  limits 
promptly. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  representatives'to  the  legislature  from 
this  city  be  requested  to  use  their  best  efforts  to  procure  the 
passage  of  the  bill  referred  to,  or  of  some  other  bill  which 
will  be  equally  eftective  in  its  operation." 

The  resolutions  were  passed  iinanimonsly  in  both 
boards,  as  was  also  the  following  order: 

"Ordered,  that  the  mayor,  Aldermen  Charles  Jones  and 
William  W.  Thomas  be  a  committee,  with  such  as  the  common 
council  may  join,  to  visit  Augusta  during  the  session  of  the 
present  legislature  to  present  the  foregoing  resolutions  to  the 
representatives  from  this  city,  and  to  express  to  any  com- 
mittee which  may  he  appointed  by  the  legislature  to  consider 
this  subject  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  the  city  council  in 
relation  to  it,  and  that  said  committee  be  authorized  to  add  to 
their  number  such  persons  as  they  may  think  proper  from  the 
citizens  at  large  to  join  them  in  their  visit  to  Augusta  for  the 
purposes  aforesaid." 

The  lower  board  added  its  president,  William  G. 
Kimball,  and  Messrs.  Nathaniel  Walker,  Hanson  M. 
Hart,  Veranus  C.  Hanson,  Moses  Eussell,  and  William 
Hoit.  Mr.  Walker  was  the  only  Democrat  in  the  list, 
that  party  having  no  representative  in  the  upper,  and 
but  three  in  the  lower,  board.  Of  that  committee, 
Mr.  Thomas,  Mr.  Hart,'"-  and  myself  are  the  sole  sur- 
vivors. This  committee,  however,  was  not  completed 
until  after  the  Maine  Law  had  actually  been  reported 
to  the  legislature,  and  those  of  its  members  who  sub- 
sequently went  to  Augusta  found  nothing  for  them  to 
do  but  to  urge  its  passage. 

*  Mr.  Hart  survived  General  Dow  a  few  months. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


PREPAKATION      OF      THE      MAINE      LAW.         ITS     ENACTMENT. 
INCIDENTS.       THE     TEXT     OF     THAT     MEASURE. 


The  legislature  that  had  been  elected  in  the  fall  of 
1850,  was  strongly  Democratic,  and  was  to  meet  in 
May,  1851.  That  was  to  be  the  last  summer  session  of 
that  body,  as  by  a  change  in  the  Constitution  it  was 
thereafter  to  assemble  in  the  winter.  It  was  under- 
stood, however,  that  this  session  would  be  short, 
with  an  early  adjournment  to  the  next  January. 
If  the  measure  I  desired  should  be  postponed  till  that 
time,  my  term  of  office  as  mayor  would  be  practically 
over  before  it  could  become  a  law.  If,  therefore,  I 
was  to  have  an  opportunity,  which  I  much  desired,  to 
enforce  such  legislation  as  I  was  to  ask  for,  it  must  be 
enacted  at  the  session  close  at  hand. 

The  matter  of  drafting  a  prohibitory  bill  was  not 
new  to  me,  as  I  had  drawn  up  two  or  three.  Never- 
theless, I  was  anxious  that  the  one  in  process  of 
construction,  and  which  I  had  every  reason  to  believe 
would  be  approved  by  the  legislature,  should  be  as 
perfect  as  possible  in  its  details. 

Before  the  action  of  the  city  council,  referred  to  in 
the  last  chapter,  I  had  carefully  redrawn  the  bill  I 


REMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL    DOW.  335 

had  advocated  before  the  last  legislature  in  order  to 
eliminate  any  possible  defects  of  a  constitutional 
character  that  might  have  been  overlooked.  Having 
completed  it  to  my  own  satisfaction,  I  submitted  it  to 
Edward  Fox,  then  a  practicing  attorney  of  high 
standing  in  Portland,  afterwards  judge  of  the  United 
States  district  court  for  Maine.  Mr.  Fox  was  at  the 
time  much  in  sympathy  with  the  temperance  move- 
ment, though  not  actively  identified  with  it.  He 
suggested  a  few  changes,  principally  on  technical 
points,  which  I  accepted. 

The  bill  was  ready  for  presentation  to  the  legisla- 
ture when,  through  members  of  the  city  government 
friendly  to  the  object,  I  initiated  the  movement  lead- 
ing to  the  appointment  of  the  committee  previously 
mentioned.  I  could  now  appear  before  the  legislature 
to  advocate  my  measure  in  an  official  character,  rather 
than  as  an  individual,  as  had  before  been  the  case, 
and  it  only  remained  to  ascertain  the  best  time  for  the 
purpose.  Henry  Carter  was  one  of  the  representatives 
of  the  city  in  the  legislature.  Not  long  after  the 
opening  of  the  session,  I  wrote  to  him  for  information 
as  to  the  best  time  for  me  to  submit  my  bill.  His 
reply  was,  "Come  now,  because  we  will  adjourn 
finally  in  a  few  days." 

I  immediately  went  to  Augusta,  and  there,  in 
consultation  with  Senator  William  R.  Porter,  of 
Cumberland  county,  and  Representative  Noah  Smith, 
Jr.,  from  Calais,  decided  as  to  whom  it  would  be 
desirable  to  have  appointed  upon  the  special  commit- 
tee which  we  proposed  to  have  raised  to  report  upon 
the  measure  I  was  to  submit.  Senator  Porter  was  a 
Democrat,  and  Mr.  Smith  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Whig  minority  of  the  popular  branch.     Three  years 


336  EEMIXISCENCES 

later  lie  l3ecame  the  speaker  of  that  body,  and  subse- 
quently, when  the  political  control  of  Maine  passed 
out  of  Democratic  hands,  secretary  of  state. 

Having  decided  how  the  committee  should  be 
constituted,  I  called  upon  the  presiding  officers  of  the 
two  branches.  The  i)resident  of  the  senate,  Noah 
Prince,  of  Oxford  county,  was  very  friendly  to  our 
object.  The  speaker  of  the  house,  George  P.  Sewall, 
of  Oldtown,  was  as  earnestly  opposed.  Both,  how- 
ever, courteously  consented  to  appoint  in  their 
respective  bodies,  should  the  committee  l)e  ordered, 
the  gentlemen  whose  names  I  suggested. 

On  Thursday,  May  22d,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Smith, 
the  house  voted  for  the  appointment  of  a  joint  special 
committee  to  consider  the  petitions  relative  to  the 
traffic  in  liquors.  The  senate  concurred  the  same 
day.  The  committee  was  made  up,  as  previously 
agreed  upon,  of  Senators  William  R.  Porter,  of  Cum- 
berland; Roliert  A.  Chapman,  of  Oxford;  Samuel  C. 
Adams,  of  York;  and  Representatives  Noah  Smith, 
Jr.,  of  Calais;  Aaron  Quinby,  of  Westbrook;  Ezekiel 
Holmes,  of  AVinthrop;  Alden  Chase,  of  AVoodstock; 
Jesse  H.  Nickerson,  of  Orrington;  Alfred  E.  Berry, 
of  Georgetown;  and  Rufus  Sewall,  of  Cliesterville. 
Politically  the  committee  was  classified  as  follows: 
Senators  Porter  and  Chapman,  and  Re]jresentatives 
Quinby,  Chase,  and  Berry,  were  Democrats;  Senator 
Adams,  and  Representatives  Holmes  and  Sewall,  were 
Free-Soilers,  and  Representatives  Smith  and  Nicker- 
son were  AVhigs. 

The  committee  appointed  a  i)ublic  hearing  in  Repre- 
sentatives' hall  for  the  following  Monday  evening. 
At  that  time  I  appeared  and  went  over  the  familiar 
ground,  most  of  my  speech  being  devoted  to  explain- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  337 

ing  the  novel  and  technical  features  of  the  bill.  I 
closed  with  the  pledge:  "If  you  will  enact  this  bill, 
the  sun  shall  not  rise  on  Portland,  January,  1852,  and 
find  there  a  single  open  grog-shop. "  I  shall  show  that 
I  fully  redeemed  that  pledge. 

None  appeared  in  opposition.  At  the  close  of  the 
hearing,  Kepresentative  Smith  expressed  himself  satis- 
fied with  the  measure,  and  moved  that  it  be  reported, 
as  it  was.  His  motion  was  adopted  unanimously,  and 
he  was  authorized  to  present  it  in  the  house.  The 
rule  of  the  legislature  required  bills  of  a  public 
nature  to  be  printed  before  consideration.  The 
foreman  of  the  state  printing-ofiice  had  formerly 
resided  in  Portland.  He  was  an  old  Washingtonian 
temperance  man,  and  a  personal  acquaintance  of 
mine.  I  had  quietly  arranged  with  him  to  have  the 
bill  printed  in  the  usual  form,  ready  for  distribution 
as  soon  as  its  printing  had  been  ordered,  assuring 
him  that  I  would  be  personally  responsible  for  any 
expense  that  might  be  incurred  by  reason  of  possible 
changes  to  be  made  in  committee,  which,  constituted 
as  that  was,  I  did  not  deem  probable.  On  the  follow- 
ing morning,  May  27th,  Mr.  Smith  reported  the  bill 
in  the  house,  and  its  printing  was  ordered  in  the 
usual  course.  As  arranged,  however,  the  printed 
copies  were  immediately  laid  upon  the  desks  of  the 
members. 

On  Thursday,  the  29th  of  May,  the  bill  came  up 
for  consideration.  Mr.  John  C.  Talbot,  a  Democratic 
member  from  Lubec,  moved  its  postponement  until 
the  next,  or  January,  session  of  the  legislature.  Mr. 
Talbot  is  yet  living.  He  was  the  next  speaker  of  the 
house,  and,  I  think,  f6v  more  than  twenty  years,  the 
last  Democrat  who  occupied  that   position.     He  was 


338  KEMINISCENCES 

a  man  of  ability,  integrity,  and  higli  standing.  Often 
after  that  date  lie  was  a  member  of  the  legislature, 
and  more  than  thirty  years  later  was  a  member  of  the 
house  over  which  my  son  presided  as  speaker. 

The  motion  of  Mr.  Talbot  to  postpone  was  lost  by  a 
vote  of  89  to  16.  Thereupon,  Mr.  Carter,  of  Portland, 
called  for  the  previous  question,  and  the  bill  was  put 
upon  its  passage  and  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  by  a 
vote  of  81  to  40.  Politically  the  votes  were  classified: 
For  the  bill,  42  Democrats,  31  Whigs,  and  8  Free- 
Soilers;  against  it,  25  Democrats  and  15  Whigs. 

The  next  day.  May  30th,  the  bill  came  up  in  the 
senate,  and  under  suspension  of  the  rules  was  put 
on  its  passage  to  be  engrossed.  It  was  attacked  by 
Senator  Gary,  of  Aroostook  county,  in  a  vigorous 
speech.  Mr.  Gary  had  been  a  member  of  Gongress, 
was  a  man  of  much  native  force  and  talent,  and  quite 
an  acceptable  speaker  at  Democratic  rallies  and  con- 
v^entions.  In  the  course  of  his  speech  he  gave 
considerable  attention  to  me  in  phraseology  ^intended 
by  him  to  be  more  damaging  than  complimentary. 
Mr.  Gary  referred  to  the  bill  as  the  ' '  mere  efferves- 
cence of  the  fanaticism  of  the  city  of  Portland."  The 
following  are  some  of  his  expressions : 

"  This  new  manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  fanaticism  ov\<y\- 
natcd  in    the    eity    of   Portland    under    the  auspices    of  that 

prince  of  fanatics,  the  present  INJayor  of  that  city It 

embodies  the  ultra  notions  of  the  wring-necks  of  that  city,  of 
whom  the  Mayor  is  chief.  Has  the  legislature  of  Maine,  and 
a  Democratic  legislature,  too,  ]:)ecomc  so  lost  to  dignity  and 
self-respect,  as  to  sit  here  the  registrar  of  the  in(|uisitorial 
edicts  of  the  temperance  fanatics  of  Portland,  headed  by  its 
popinjay  Mayor,  a  AVhig  abolitionist  of  the  most  ultra  stri{)e? 
I  met  the  ]\Iayor  the  other  day  on  the  stairway.  lie  is  a 
pretty  little  dapper  man,  goes  well  dressed,  wears  a  nice  blue 
jacket  and  fancy  vest  and  his  hat  cocked  on  one  side  of  his 
head.     He  succeeded  in  getting  his  l)ill  reported  by  the  com- 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  839 

mittee,  word  for  word  and  letter  for  letter,  as  it  was  prepared 
for  them.  I  do  not  expect  to  make  any  impression  on  the 
senate,  I  do  not  belong  to  the  powers  that  be.  I  train  in  a 
different  company.  I  do  not  expect  to  have  any  influence  in 
the  party  until  the  reign  of  niggerism  and  fanaticism  is  over. 
A  few  years  ago  the  jackdaw  Mayor  of  Portland,  this  man 
with  the  fancy  vest,  who  got  up  the  precious  document  the 
legislature  is  called  upon  to  register,  was  at  the  head  of  the 
nigger  movement  in  that  city.  He  was  formerly  a  Federalist, 
but  Federalism  alone  was  not  low  enough  for  his  instincts, 
and  he  joined  the  abolition  movement ;  but  even  Abolitionism 
was  not  strong  enough  for  his  diseased  palate,  and  he  has 
added  temperanceism  to  his  former  stock  of  huml)ugs.  Is 
this  Federal-abolition-wring-neck  to  be  allowed  to  dictate  to  a 
Democratic  legislature  what  enactments  it  shall  pass?  Talk 
with  the  Mayor.  Does  h^  pretend  to  be  a  Democrat  ?  No. 
He  never  had  and  never  can  have  a  Democratic  feeling  or 
pulsation.  He  is  a  Federalist  at  heart,  of  the  alien  and 
sedition  law  stripe.  Why  should  he,  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
Portland,  come  down  here  with  his  rum  bill,  all  cut  and 
dried,  for  this  legislature  to  enact  into  a  law?  Was  it  for 
any  good  to  the  democracy  ?  What  does  the  fop  Mayor  of 
Portland  care  about  the  democracy?  Why,  all  he  cares 
about  it  is  to  overturn  the  democracy  of  the  state  and  put 
himself  at  the  top  of  the  heap  by  heading  this  wring-neck 
temperance  movement  as  he  headed  the  abolition  movement. 
We  have  two  kinds  of  bees,  one  small  and  not  handsome,  but 
useful,  the  honey-bee.  A  swarm  of  this  sort  of  l)ees  have  a 
king  bee  or  queen  bee,  bigger  than  any  of  the  rest.  The 
mode  of  making  him  is  said  to  be  this  :  They  take  the  largest 
maggot  they  can  find  and  by  some  sort  of  process  not  fully 
imderstood  continue  to  grow  it  into  a  bee  of  immense  size, 
and  install  it  as  the  king  or  queen  bee,  whom  all  the  little 
bees  fall  down  and  worship.  The  temperance  fanatics  have 
imitated  the  example  of  the  honey-bee  in  this  respect.  They 
have  taken  the  Mayor  of  Portland,  and  by  some  process 
blown  him  up  into  a  king  bee,  bigger  than  all  the  other  bees 
in  the  hive.  There  is  also  another  kind  of  l)ee,  called  the 
bumblebee,  or  bumblebee,  whom  he  likewise  resembles  in 
several  respects.  This  bee  is  a  big  bee,  a  very  big  and 
pretty  bee.  It  has  a  fine  coat  with  pretty  colors,  and  makes 
a  great  noise.  In  fact,  it  keeps  up  a  tremendous  buzz,  buzz, 
buzz,  wherever  it  goes.  The  house  has  been  frightened  into 
the  passao-e  of  this  bill  by  the  buzzing  of  a  bumblebee." 


340  REMINISCENCES 

At  the  closie  of  Senator  Gary's  speech,  after  some 
fun  at  his  expense  caused  by  one  or  two  other  sena- 
tors, the  yeas  and  nays  were  called,  and  the  bill  was 
ordered  to  be  eno-rossed  by  a  vote  of  18  to  10,  divided 
politically  as  follows:  For  the  bill,  14  Democrats;  3 
Whigs;  1  Free  Soiler;  against  it,  10  Democrats. 

The  bill  would  come  up  in  the  house  for  final  passage 
the  next  day.  It  was  not  usual  for  measures  to  be 
attacked  at  that  stage,  but  there  was  no  rule  pre- 
venting it.  Senator  Gary's  sonorous  oratory  had 
drawn  many  of  the  popular  branch  from  their  seats 
into  the  senate-chamber  during  its  delivery,  and  I 
thought  it  possible  that  some  one  among  them  might 
lie  induced  to  imitate  him  when  the  bill  should  come 
up  in  that  body  on  its  passage  to  be  enacted.  This 
apprehension  was  increased  somewhat  by  the  action  of 
the  speaker,  by  whose  side,  through  his  courtesy,  I  was 
occupying  a  chair. 

Several  acts  and  resolves  were  on  the  desk  awaiting 
final  passage.  He  looked  these  over,  selected  one, 
which  I  observed  was  the  bill  in  which  I  was  inter- 
ested, and  laid  it  aside.  He  then  put  the  vote  for 
final  passage  upon  all  the  others  collectively  in  the 
ordinary  way.  Those  disposed  of,  he  took  up  the  roll 
he  liad  laid  aside,  and,  looking  carefully  over  tlie 
house,  slowly  and  distinctly  read  the  title  of  the  act: 

''An  Act  for  the  Suppression  of  Drinking  Houses 
and  Tippling  Shops." 

'Hit'ii  Ik'  paused  and  looked  over  the  house  again. 
Ko  ineml)er  rose:  no  one  of  them  all  "cauglit  the 
sr^aker's  eye.''  The  pause  was  not  long,  only  a  few 
seconds,  but  to  at  least  one  anxious  friend  of  the  bill, 
each  second  seemed  a  miiiute.  and  a  iiiiimte  would 
have  been  an   iiileimiiiable  time.     Then  (leli])erately, 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  341 

with  a  perceptible  pause  between  eacli  word,  the  long 
formula  in  vogue  in  the  passage  of  bills  to  be  enacted 
was  put.  Holding  the  roll  in  his  hand,  the  speaker 
said: 

' '  Bill,  an  act  entitled,  An  Act  for  the  Suppression 
of  Drinking  Houses  and  Tippling  Shops.  This  bill, 
having  had  its  three  several  readings,  and  having 
been  passed  to  be  engrossed,  is  now  reported  by  the 
committee  on  engrossed  bills  as  truly  and  strictly 
engrossed.  Is  it  the  pleasure  of  the  house  that  the 
bill  shall  now  pass  to  be  enacted  ? " 

The  seconds  now  seemed  to  multiply  in  number  and 
increase  in  length,  during  which  the  speaker  scanned 
the  silent  house.  "  It  is  a  vote.  The  bill  will  now  be 
signed  by  the  speaker  and  sent  to  the  senate, "  said  the 
chair.  The  speaker  had  taken  so  much  more  time 
than  Avas  ordinarily  given  to  bills  in  that  stage  that  I 
could  not  refrain  from  laughingly  inquiring  of  him, 
"Don't  you  wish  you  could  have  said,  'It  is  not  a 
vote  i '  "  But  there  was  no  reply.  He  was  in  no  mood 
for  pleasantries. 

Immediately  after  the  speaker  had  signed  the  bill  I 
took  it  to  the  senate.  There  the  president  promised 
that  there  should  be  no  delay.  It  promptly  passed  to 
be  enacted  in  that  body,  and  I  took  it  to  the  governor. 
Just  as  I  entered  the  executive  chamber  with  the 
bill  I  had  so  carefully  watched  through  the  legisla- 
ture, several,  perhaps  half  a  dozen,  members  were 
passing  out.  I  thought  nothing  of  the  incident  at  the 
moment,  but  was  subsequently  informed  that  they 
were  a  self -constituted  committee  of  the  Democratic 
majority  of  the  legislature  which  had  been  laboring 
with  the  governor  to  induce  him  to  follow  the  example 
of  his  immediate  predecessor,  and  veto  the  bill.     That 

23 


342  REMINISCENCES 

course  was  urged  upon  him  by  two  or  three  senators 
and  representatives  who  had  but  a  short  time  before 
voted  for  the  measure. 

The  governor  naturally  questioned  them  as  to  the 
consistency  of  such  advice.  To  this  they  replied  that 
they  had  been  constrained  to  vote  for  it  by  the 
politicians'  first  law  of  political  self-preservation;  the 
vote  margin  in  their  districts  between  their  party  and 
their  Whig  competitors  was  small,  the  radical  temper- 
ance men  holding  the  balance  of  power;  in  a  score  of 
contests  in  various  parts  of  the  state  these  had 
demonstrated  their  willingness  to  use  their  votes 
whenever  necessary  to  secure  a  legislator  favorable 
to  Prohibition.  Attention  was  called  to  the  fact 
that  familiar  faces  were  missing  from  both  branches 
of  that  legislature,  and  their  absence  was  thought  to 
be  due  to  opposition  to  a  law  which  had  been  submit- 
ted the  previous  year,  and  which  was  substantially  the 
same  as  the  one  for  which  they  had  just  voted.  The 
position  of  the  governor,  they  urged  upon  him,  was 
quite  different.  He  had  received  at  both  of  his  elec- 
tions more  than  nine  thousand  plurality.  There 
was  no  danger  to  him,  so  those  gentlemen  said,  from 
the  temperance  vote,  and  they  believed  that  he  could, 
with  political  safety,  veto  the  measure,  of  which  it 
Avas  tliought  he  did  not  personally  approve. 

Governor  Hubbard,  however,  as  he  afterwards  in- 
formed me,  reminded  those  gentlemen  that  they  had 
voted  for  the  bill.  Their  record  was  public.  He  was 
bound  to  l)elieve  that  their  vote,  as  thus  recorded, 
rei^resented  their  convictions.  It  was  neither  his 
duty  nor  his  desire  to  relieve  them  from  the  position 
in  which  they  had  placed  themselves.  They  had 
admitted,  in  voting  for  the  measure,  that  they  were 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  343 

representing  the  wishes  of  their  constituents.  They 
must  not  ask  him  to  disregard  the  public  will  that 
they  had  obeyed,  and  heed  their  private  opinions  and 
personal  wishes,  which  they  had  concealed  by  their 
votes.  Two  sessions  of  the  legislature,  the  Governor 
said,  had  been  occupied  in  discussing  and  maturing 
the  subject.  It  had  passed  both  houses  by  a  vote  of 
about  two-thirds.  It  could  not  be  looked  upon,  there- 
fore, as  hasty  and  inconsiderate  legislation,  which 
alone  would  authorize  the  interposition  of  the  veto,  a 
power  which  the  Constitution  did  not  contemplate  as  a 
part  of  the  ordinary  process  of  legislation.  He  would 
not  use  it  in  this  case  unless  upon  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  bill  he  should  find  in  it  defects  too  grave 
to  be  overlooked. 

All  this  had  passed  between  the  Grovernor  and  some 
of  his  political  associates  before  I  saw  him,  but  I  did 
not  learn  of  it  until  more  than  a  year  later,  when  as 
will  be  shown.  Governor  Hubbard  and  I  found  our- 
selves co-operating  politically. 

Presenting  myself  to  the  Governor,  I  handed  him 
the  bill  bearing  the  official  certification  of  its  passage 
by  both  houses.  He  received  me  courteously,  took 
the  paper  without  a  word  that  would  indicate  his 
views  upon  the  subject,  put  it  in  his  pocket,  and, 
saying  that  he  would  have  an  opportunity  to  consider 
it  carefully  the  next  day,  Sunday,  at  his  home,  only  a 
short  distance  from  the  capital,  turned  our  conversa- 
tion to  general  topics.  After  a  few  moments  of 
friendly  intercourse,  I  took  my  leave. 

There  was  now  nothing  for  it  but  to  await  the 
executive  act  which  was  to  put  in  my  hands  the 
weapon  I  wished  to  use  in  Portland  in  the  contest 
of  the  people  against  the  liquor-traffic,  or  to  relegate 


344  REMINISCENCES 

it  to  the  arcliives  of  the  state  to  repose  among  other 
dusty  reminders  that  the  will  of  the  people  does  not 
always  find  expression  in  the  acts  of  their  servants. 

I  felt  that  there  wa^  ground  for  hope  in  the  charac- 
ter and  antecedents  of  Governor  Hubbard.  As  far  as 
I  know,  he  had  up  to  that  time,  manifested  no  special 
interest  in  the  temperance  reform  in  the  state;  I  do 
not  know  that  he  did  not  consider  it  entirely  right  and 
])ro[)er  to  indulge  in  an  occasional  glass  of  intoxicants, 
but  he  was  known  to  be  a  man  of  the  people,  and  not 
distinctively  a  politician.  A  practicing  physician, 
with  a  large  clientage  that  had  helped  him  to  an 
election  to  the  state  senate  from  a  strong  Whig  dis- 
trict, he  had  been  made  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
governor  in  1849  because  of  his  personal  popularity  in 
an  exigency  in  the  history  of  his  party  when  it  found 
it  necessary  to  select  the  most  available  man  to  retrieve 
its  fortunes,  which  had  been  somewhat  impaired  the 
year  before. 

In  1848,  under  the  influence  of  the  Van  Buren 
national  campaign,  the  Liberal  party  in  Maine  had 
thrown  in  the  September  election  a  sufficiently  large 
vote  to  prevent  a  choice  of  governor  by  the  people. 
The  same  had  happened  in  1846,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  state,  and  Democratic  politicians, 
in  their  anxiety  to  change  this  condition  of  things, 
had  a])andoned  their  old-time  policy  in  the  matter  of  a 
gubernatorial  candidate. 

Before  the  nomination  of  Dr.  Hubbard,  his  party 
had,  I  think,  invariably  taken  its  candidates  for  gov- 
ernor from  the  list  of  its  leaders  trained  in  the 
conduct  of  political  affairs,  but  in  this  case  it  had 
abandoned  tliat  practice.  Governor  Hubbard,  up  to 
the  time  of  his  election,  had  had  but  little  to  do  with 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  345 

the  politicians  of  his  party.  The  leading  Whig  paper 
of  the  state,  upon  his  accession  to  office  in  1850,  had 
said  of  him: 

"The  leaders  of  both  factions  of  his  party  aheady  evi- 
dently feel  very  uncomfortable  with  John  Hu))bard  for  their 
governor.  They  look  at  him  with  a  sort  of  dread.  They 
evidently  feel  that  he  will  at  least  need  a  great  deal  of  training 
before  he  will  answer  their  purpose,  and  all,  as  yet,  stand 
aloof  from  him  as  if  debating  the  question,  '  Who  shall  try 
him  hrst  ? ' " 

The  event  proved  that  Governor  Hubbard  had  the 
requisite  strength  of  character  to  resist  the  solicita- 
tions of  some  of  his  party  leaders  to  veto  the  bill,  and 
on  Monday,  June  2d,  he  announced  his  approval  of  it. 
The  text  of  the  law  is  as  follows: 

An  Act  for  the  Suppression  of  Drinking  Houses  and 
Tippling  Shops. 

Section  1.  No  person  shall  be  allowed  at  any  time,  to 
manufacture  or  sell,  by  himself,  his  clerk,  servant  or  agent, 
directly  or  indirectly,  any  spirituous  or  intoxicating  liquors, 
or  any  mixed  liquors,  a  part  of  which  is  spirituous  or  intoxi- 
cating, except  as  hereafter  provided. 

Section  2.  The  selectmen  of  any  town,  and  mayor  and 
aldermen  of  any  city,  on  the  first  Monday  of  May  annually, 
or  as  soon  thereafter  as  may  be  convenient,  may  appoint 
some  suitable  person  as  the  agent  of  said  town  or  city,  to  sell 
at  some  central  or  convenient  place  within  said  tow^n  or  city, 
spirits,  wines,  or  other  intoxicating  liquors,  to  be  used  for 
medicinal  and  mechanical  purposes  and  no  other ;  and  said 
agent  shall  receive  such  compensation  for  his  services  as  the 
board  appointing  him  shall  prescribe ;  and  shall  in  the  sale  of 
such  liquors,  conform  to  such  rules  and  regulations,  as  the 
selectmen  or  mayor  and  aldermen  as  aforesaid  shall  prescribe 
for  that  purpose.  And  such  agent  appointed  as  aforesaid, 
shall  hold  his  situation  for  one  year,  unless  sooner  removed 
by  the  board  from  which  he  received  his  appointment,  as  he 
may  be  at  any  time  at  the  pleasure  of  the  board, 

Section  3.  Such  agent  shall  receive  a  certificate  from  the 
mayor  and   aldermen   or    selectmen    by    whom    he  has   been 


346  REMINISCENCES 

appointed,  authorizing  him  as  the  asfent  of  such  town  or  city, 
to  sell  intoxicating  liciuors  for  medicinal  and  mechanical  pur- 
poses only ;  hut  such  certificate  shall  not  l)e  delivered  to  the 
person  so  appointed  until  he  shall  have  executed  and  delivered 
to  said  hoard,  a  bond  with  two  good  and  sufficient  sureties,  in 
the  sum  of  six  hundred  dollars,  in  substance  as  follows  : 

Know  all  men,  that  we,  as  principal,  and  and 

as  sureties,  are  holden  and  stand  firmly  bound  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  town  of  ,  (or  city,  as  the  case  may  be)  in 
the  sum  of  six  hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  them,  to  which 
payment  we  ])ind  ourselves,  our  heirs,  executors,  and  admin- 
istrators, firmly  by  these  presents.  Sealed  with  our  seals, 
and  dated  this           day  of  A.  D. 

The  condition  of  this  obligation  is  such,  that  whereas  the 
above  bounden  has  been  duly    appointed    as  agent    for 

the  town  (or  city)  of  ,  to  sell  within  and  for  and  on  ac- 

count of  said  town  (or  city)  intoxicating  liquors  for  medicinal 
and  mechanical  purposes  and  no  other,  until  the  of 

A.  D.  ,  unless  sooner  removed  from  said  agency. 

Now  if  the  said  shall  in  all  respects  conform  to   the 

l)rovisions  of  the  law  relating  to  the  business  for  which  he  is 
appointed,  and  to  such  rules  and  regulations  as  now  are  or 
shall  l)e  from  time  to  time  established  by  the  board  making 
the  appointment,  then  this  obligation  to  be  void ;  otherwise 
to  remain  in  full  force. 

Section  4.  If  any  person,  by  himself,  clerk,  servant  or 
agent,  shall  at  any  time  sell  any  spirituous  or  intoxicating 
liquors,  or  any  mixed  liquors,  part  of  which  is  intoxicating, 
in  violation  of  the  provision  of  this  act,  he  shall  forfeit  and 
pay  on  the  first  conviction,  ten  dollars  and  the  cost  of  prose- 
cution, and  shall  stand  committed  until  the  same  be  paid;  on 
the  second  conviction  he  shall  pay  twenty  dollars  and  the  cost 
of  prosecution,  and  shall  stand  committed  until  the  same  be 
l)aid ;  on  the  tliird  and  every  subsequent  conviction  he  shall 
pay  twenty  dollars  and  the  costs  of  prosecution  and  shall  be 
imprisoned  in  the  common  jail  not  less  than  three  months,  nor 
more  than  six  months,  and  in  default  of  the  payment  of  the 
fines  and  costs  prescribed  by  this  section  for  the  first  and 
second  convictions,  the  convict  shall  not  be  entitled  to  the 
])enefit  of  Chapter  175  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  until  he  shall 
have  l)een  imj)risoned  two  months ;  and  in  default  of  i)ayment 
of  fines  and  costs  provided  for  the  third  and  every  sul)sequent 
conviction,  he  shall  not  ])e  entitled  to  the  l)enefit  of  said 
Chapter  175  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  until  he  shall  have  l)een 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  347 

imprisoned  four  months.  And  if  any  clerk,  servant,  agent, 
or  other  person  in  the  employment  or  on  the  premises  of 
another  shall  violate  the  provisions  of  this  section,  he  shall  be 
held  equally  guilty  with  the  principal,  and  on  conviction  shall 
suffer  the  same  penalty. 

Section  5.  Any  forfeiture  or  penalty  arising  under  the 
above  section  may  be  recovered  by  an  action  of  debt,  or  by 
complaint  before  any  justice  of  the  peace,  or  judge  of  any 
municipal  or  police  court,  in  the  county  where  the  oflense 
was  committed.  And  the  forfeiture  so  recovered  shall  go  to 
the  town  where  the  convicted  party  resides,  for  the  use  of  the 
poor ;  and  the  prosecutor  or  complainant  may  be  admitted  as 
a  witness  in  the  trial.  And  if  any  one  of  the  selectmen  or 
board  of  mayor  and  aldermen  shall  approve  of  the  commence- 
ment of  any  such  suit,  by  endorsing  his  name  upon  the  writ, 
the  defendant  shall  in  no  event  recover  any  costs  ;  and  in  all 
actions  of  debt  arising  under  this  section,  the  fines  and 
forfeitures  suffered  by  the  defendant  shall  be  the  same  as  if 
the  action  had  been  by  complaint.  And  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  any  city,  and  selectmen  of 
any  town,  to  commence  an  action  in  behalf  of  said  town  or 
city,  against  any  person  guilty  of  a  violation  of  any  of  the 
provisions  of  this  act,  on  being  informed  of  the  same,  and 
being  furnished  with  proof  of  the  fact. 

Section  6.  If  any  person  shall  claim  an  appeal  from  a 
judgment  rendered  against  him  by  any  judge  or  justice,  on 
trial  of  such  action  or  complaint,  he  shall,  before  the  a}) peal 
shall  be  allowed,  recognize  in  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars, 
with  two  good  and  sufficient  sureties,  in  every  case  so  ap- 
pealed, to  prosecute  his  appeal,  and  to  pay  all  costs,  fines  and 
penalties  that  may  be  awarded  against  him,  upon  a  final  dispo- 
sition of  such  suit  or  complaint.  And  before  his  appeal  shall 
be  allowed,  he  shall  also,  in  every  case,  give  a  bond  with  two 
other  good  and  sufficient  sureties,  running  to  the  town  or  city 
where  the  offense  was  committed,  in  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
dollars,  that  he  will  not  during  the  pendency  of  such  appeal, 
violate  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act.  And  no  recogni- 
zance or  bond  shall  be  taken  in  cases  arising  under  this  act 
except  by  the  justices  or  judge  before  whom  the  trial  was 
had  ;  and  the  defendant  shall  l)e  held  to  advance  the  jury  fees 
in  every  case  of  appeal  in  an  action  of  debt ;  and  in  the  event 
of  a  final  conviction  before  a  jury,  the  defendant  shall  pay 
and  suffer  double  the  amount  of  fines,  penalties  and  imprison- 
ment awarded  against  him  by  the  justice  or  judge  from  whose 


348  KEMINISCENCES 

judgment  the  appeal  was  made.  The  forfeiture  of  all  bonds 
and  recosfnizances  uiven  in  pursuance  of  this  act  shall  go  to 
the  town  or  city  where  the  offense  was  committed,  for  the  use 
of  the  poor  ;  and  if  the  recognizances  and  bonds  mentioned  in 
this  section  shall  not  be  given  within  twenty-four  hours 
after  the  judgment,  the  appeal  shall  not  be  allowed.  The 
defendant  in  the  meantime  to  stand  committed. 

Section  7.  The  mayor  and  aklermen  of  any  city,  and  the 
selectmen  of  any  town,  whenever  complaint  shall  be  made  to 
them  that  a  breach  of  the  conditions  of  the  bond  given  by 
any  [)erson  appointed  under  this  act,  has  been  committed, 
shall  notify  the  ])erson  complained  of,  and  if  upon  a  hear- 
ing of  the  parties  it  shall  appear  that  any  breach  has  been 
committed,  they  shall  revoke  and  make  void  his  appointment. 
And  whenever  a  br(;ach  of  any  bond  given  to  the  inhabitants 
of  any  city  or  town  in  pursuance  of  any  of  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  shall  l)e  made  known  to  the  mayor  and  aldermen,  or 
selectmen,  or  shall  in  any  manner  come  to  their  knowledge, 
they,  or  some  one  of  them,  shall,  at  the  expense  and  for  the 
use  of  said  city  or  town,  cause  the  bond  to  be  put  in  suit  in 
an}''  court  proper  to  try  the  same. 

Section  8.  Xo  i)erson  shall  be  allowed  to  be  a  manufac- 
turer of  any  spirituous  or  intoxicating  liquors,  or  common 
seller  thereof,  without  being  duly  appointed  as  aforesaid,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  on  the  first  conviction,  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  dollars  and  costs  of  prosecution,  and  in  default  of 
the  ])ayment  thereof  the  person  so  convicted  shall  be  impris- 
oned sixty  days  in  the  common  jail ;  and  on  the  second 
conviction,  the  person  so  convicted  shall  pay  the  sum  of  two 
hundred  dollars  and  costs  of  prosecution,  and  in  default  of 
paymeut  shall  be  imprisoned  four  months  in  the  common  jail ; 
and  on  the  third  and  every  sul)se(j(uent  conviction,  shall  pay 
the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  and  shall  be  imprisoned  four 
months  in  the  common  jail  of  the  county  where  the  oftense 
was  committed  ;  said  penalties  to  be  recovered  before  any 
court  of  competent  jurisdiction,  by  indictment,  or  by  action 
of  debt  in  the  name  of  the  city  or  town  wlun-e  the  offense 
shall  be  connnitted.  And  whenever  a  default  shall  be  had  of 
any  recognizance  arising  under  this  act,  scire  facias  shall  be 
issued,  returnable  at  the  next  term,  and  the  same  shall  not  l)e 
contimuul,  unless  for  good  cause,  satisfactory  to  the  court. 

Sectio!!  I).  No  ))erson  engaged  in  the  unlawful  tnilHc  in 
intoxicating  li(jUors  sli;ill  Ik-  competent  to  sit  upon  any  jury 
in  any  case  arising   under  this  act  ;     and    when    information 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  349 

shall  be  communicated  to  the  court,  that  any  member  of  any 
panel  is  engaged  in  such  traffic,  or  that  he  is  l)elieved  to  be  so 
engaged,  the  court  shall  inquire  of  the  juryman  of  whom  such 
belief  is  entertained ;  and  no  answer  which  he  shall  make 
shall  be  used  against  him  in  any  case  arising  under  this  act ; 
but  if  he  shall  answer  falsely,  he  shall  be  incapable  of  serving 
on  any  jury  in  this  state  ;  but  he  may  decline  to  answer,  in 
which  case  he  shall  be  discharged  liy  the  court  from  all 
further  attendance  as  a  juryman. 

Section  10.  All  cases  arising  under  this  act,  whether  by 
action,  indictment  or  complaint,  which  shall  come  before  a 
superior  court,  either  by  appeal  or  original  entry,  shall  take 
precedence  in  said  court  of  all  other  business,  except  those 
criminal  cases  in  which  the  parties  are  actually  under  arrest 
awaiting  a  trial ;  and  the  court  and  prosecuting  officer  shall 
not  have  authority  to  enter  a  nolle  ])rosequi,  or  tb  grant  a  con- 
tinuance in  any  case  arising  under  this  act  either  before  or 
after  the  verdict,  except  where  the  purposes  of  justice  shall 
require  it. 

Section  11.  If  any  three  persons,  voters  in  the  town  or 
city  where  the  complaint  shall  be  made,  shall,  before  any  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  or  judge  of  any  municipal  or  police  court, 
make  complaint  under  oath  or  affirmation  that  they  have 
reason  to  believe,  and  do  believe  that  spirituous  or  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  are  kept  or  deposited,  and  intended  for  sale  by 
any  person  not  authorized  to  sell  the  same  in  said  city  or 
town  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  in  any  store,  shop,  ware- 
house, or  other  building  or  place  in  said  city  or  town,  said 
justice  or  judge  shall  issue  his  warrant  of  search  to  any 
sheriff,  city  marshal  or  deputy,  or  to  any  constable,  who  shall 
proceed  to  search  the  premises  described  in  said  warrant,  and 
if  any  spirituous  or  intoxicating  liquors  are  found  therein  he 
shall  seize  the  same,  and  convey  them  to  some  proper  place 
of  security,  where  he  shall  keep  them  until  final  action  is  had 
thereon.  But  no  dwelling-house  in  which  or  in  part  of  which 
a  shop  is  not  kept,  shall  be  searched  unless  at  least  one  of 
said  complainants  shall  testify  to  some  act  of  sale  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  therein,  by  the  occupant  thereof,  or  by  his  consent 
or  permission,  within  at  least  one  month  of  the  time  of 
making  said  complaint.  And  the  owner  or  keeper  of  said 
liquors,  seized  as  aforesaid,  if  he  shall  l)e  known  to  the  officer 
seizing  the  same,  shall  be  summoned  forthwith  before  the 
justice  or  judge  l)y  whose  warrant  the  liquors  were  seized, 
and  if  he  fails  to  appear,  or  unless  he  can  show   by  positive 


350  REMINISCENCES 

proof  that  sfiid  liquors  are  of  foreign  production,  that  they 
have  been  imported  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  accordance  therewith,  that  they  are  contained  in  the 
original  packages  in  which  they  were  imported,  and  in  quan- 
tities not  less  than  the  laws  of  the  United  States  prescribe, 
they  shall  be  declared  forfeited,  and  shall  be  destroyed  by 
authority  of  the  written  order  to  that  effect  of  said  justice  or 
judge  and  in  his  presence,  or  in  the  presence  of  some  person 
appointed  l)y  him  to  witness  the  destruction  thereof,  and  who 
shall  join  with  the  officer  by  whom  they  shall  have  been 
destroyed  in  attesting  that  fact  upon  the  Imck  of  the  order  by 
authority  of  which  it  was  done  ;  and  the  owner  or  keeper  of 
such  li(]Uors  shall  pay  a  fine  of  twenty  dollars  and  costs,  or 
stand  committed  for  thirty  days,  in  default  of  payment,  if  in 
the  opinion  of  the  court  said  liquors  shall  have  been  kept 
or  deposited  for  the  purposes  of  sale.  And  if  the  owner  or 
possessor  of  any  liquors  seized  in  pursuance  of  this  section 
shall  set  up  the  claim  that  they  have  been  regularly  imported 
under  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  that  they  are  con- 
tained in  the  original  packages,  the  custom  house  certificates 
of  importation  and  proofs  of  marks  on  the  casks  or  packages 
corresjjonding  thereto  shall  not  be  received  as  evidence  that 
the  li(iu()rs  contained  in  said  packages  are  those  actually 
imported  therein. 

Section  12.  If  the  owner,  keeper  or  possessor  of  liquors, 
seized  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  shall  be  unknown  to 
the  officer  seizing  the  same,  they  shall  not  be  condemned  and 
destroyed  until  they  shall  have  ])een  advertised,  with  the  num- 
ber and  description  of  the  packages,  as  near  as  may  be,  for 
two  weeks,  by  posting  up  a  written  description  of  the  same  in 
some  public  place  that  if  such  liquors  are  actually  the  prop- 
erty of  any  city  or  town  in  the  state,  and  were  so  at  the  time 
of  the  seizure,  purchased  for  sale  by  the  agent  of  said  city  or 
town,  for  medicinal  and  mechanical  purposes  only,  in  [)ursu- 
ance  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  they  may  not  be  destroyed ; 
but  u|)on  satisfactory  ])roof  of  such  ownership  within  said 
two  weeks  before  the  justice  or  judge  by  whose  authority  said 
liquors  were  seized,  said  justice  or  judge  shall  deliver  to  the 
agent  of  said  city  or  town,  an  order  to  the  officer  having  said 
liquors  in  custody,  whereupon  said  officer  shall  deliver  them 
to  said  agent,  taking  his  receipt  therefor  u])on  the  l)ack  of 
said  order,  which  shall  l)e  retui-ned  to  said  justice  or  judge. 

Section  18.  If  any  person  claiming  any  li(juors  seized  as 
aforesaid  shall  ai)p(':il   lioiii   the  judgment  of  any  justice   or 


or   NEAL    DOW.  351 

judge,  by  whose  authority  the  seizure  was  made,  to  the  dis- 
trict court,  Ijcfore  his  appeal  shall  be  allowed,  he  shall  oivc  a 
bond  in  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars,  with  two  good  and 
sufficient  sureties  to  prosecute  his  appeal,  and  to  pay  all  fines 
and  costs  which  may  be  awarded  against  him  ;  and  in  the  case 
of  any  such  appeal,  where  the  quantity  of  liquors  so  seized 
shall  exceed  five  gallons,  if  the  final  decision  shall  be  against 
the  appellant  that  such  liquors  were  intended  by  him  for  sale, 
he  shall  be  adjudged  by  the  court  a  common  seller  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors,  and  shall  be  sul)ject  to  the  penalties  provided 
for  in  section  eight  of  this  act ;  and  said  liquors  shall  be 
destroj'ed  as  provided  for  in  section  eleven.  But  nothing 
contained  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  any 
chemist,  artist,  or  manufacturer,  in  whose  art  or  trade  they 
may  be  necessary,  from  keeping  at  his  place  of  business  such 
reasonable  and  proper  quantity  of  distilled  liquors  as  he  may 
have  occasion  to  use  in  his  art  or  trade,  but  not  for  sale. 

Section  14.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  any  mayor,  alderman, 
selectman,  assessor,  city  marshal,  or  deputy  or  constable,  if 
he  shall  have  information  that  any  intoxicating  liquors  are 
kept  or  sold  in  any  tent,  shanty,  hut  or  place  of  any  kind  for 
selling  refreshments  in  any  public  place,  on  or  near  the 
ground  of  any  cattle-show,  agricultural  exhibition,  military 
muster,  or  public  occasion  of  any  kind,  to  search  such  sus- 
pected place,  and  if  such  officer  shall  find  upon  the  premises 
any  intoxicating  drinks  he  shall  seize  them  and  arrest  the 
keeper  or  keepers  of  such  place,  and  take  them  forthwith,  or 
as  soon  as  rpay  be,  before  some  justice  or  judge  of  a  munici- 
pal or  police  court,  with  the  liquors  so  found  and  seized,  and 
upon  proof  that  such  liquors  are  intoxicating,  that  they  were 
found  in  possession  of  the  accused,  in  a  tent,  shanty,  or  other 
place  as  aforesaid,  he  or  they  shall  be  sentenced  to  imprison- 
ment in  the  county  jail  for  thirty  days,  and  the  liquor  so 
seized  shall  be  destroyed  by  order  of  said  justice  or  judge. 

Section  15.  If  any  person  arrested  under  the  preceding 
section,  and  sentenced  as  aforesaid,  shall  claim  an  appeal, 
before  his  appeal  shall  be  allowed  he  shall  give  a  bond  in  the 
sum  of  one  hundred  dollars,  with  two  good  and  sufficient 
sureties,  that  he  will  prosecute  his  appeal  and  pay  all  fines, 
costs  and  penalties  which  may  be  awarded  against  him.  And 
if  on  such  appeal  the  verdict  of  the  jury  shall  be  against  him, 
he  shall  in  addition  to  the  penalty  awarded  by  the  lower 
court  pay  a  fine  of  twenty  dollars.  In  all  cases  of  appeal 
under  this  act  from  the  judgment  of  a  justice  or  judge  of  any 


352  EEMINISCENCES 

municipal  or  police  court,  to  the  district  court,  except  where 
the  proooedinii  is  by  action  of  debt,  they  shall  be  conducted 
in  said  district  court  by  the  prosecuting  officer  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  said  officer  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  all  costs 
taxable  to  the  state,  in  all  criminal  proceedings  under  this  act, 
in  addition  to  the  salary  allowed  to  such  officer  by  law,  but  no 
costs  in  such  cases  shall  be  remitted  or  reduced  by  the  prose- 
cuting oflicer  or  the  court.  In  any  suit,  complaint,  indict- 
ment, or  other  proceeding  against  any  person  for  a  violation 
of  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  other  than  for  the  first 
olfense,  it  shall  not  be  requisite  to  set  forth  particularly  the 
record  of  a  foruier  conviction,  but  it  shall  be  sufficient  to 
alleo-e  briedy  that  such  person  has  l)ecn  convicted  of  a  viola- 
tion of  the  fourth  section  of  this  act,  or  as  a  common  seller 
as  the  case  may  be,  and  such  allegation  in  any  civil  or  crimi- 
nal process  in  any  stage  of  the  proceedings,  before  final 
judgment,  may  be  amended  without  terms  and  as  a  matter  of 
right. 

Section  1(5.  All  payments  or  compensations  for  liquor  sold 
in  violation  of  law,  whether  in  money,  labor,  or  other  prop- 
erty, either  real  or  personal,  shall  be  held  and  considered  to 
have  been  received  in  violation  of  law,  and  without  consider- 
ation, and  against  law,  equity  and  a  good  conscience,  and  all 
sales,  transfers  and  conveyances,  mortgages,  liens,  attach- 
ments, pledges  and  securities  of  every  kind,  which  either  in 
whole  or  in  part  shall  have  been  for  or  on  account  of  spiritu- 
ous or  intoxicating  liquors  shall  be  utterly  null  and  void 
against  all  persons  and  in  all  cases,  and  no  rights  of  any  kind 
shall  be  acquired  thereby  ;  and  in  any  action,  either  at  law 
or  equity,  touching  such  real  or  personal  estate,  the  pur- 
chaser of  such  li(juors  may  be  a  witness  for  either  party. 
Av\(\  no  action  of  any  kind  shall  l)e  maintained  in  any  court 
in  this  state,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  for  intoxicating  or 
spirituous  liquors  sold  in  any  other  state  or  country  whatever, 
nor  shall  any  action  of  any  kind  be  had  or  maintained  in  any 
court  in  this  state,  foi-  the  recovery  or  possession  of  intoxi- 
cating or  spirituous  li(iuors,  or  the  value  thereof. 

S(!ction  17.  All  the  provisions  of  this  act,  relating  to 
towns,  shall  be  a]){)lical)le  to  cities  and  j)lantations ;  and 
those  relating  to  seU^ctmen  shall  also  be  a))plied  to  the  mayor 
and  ahUu'nien  of  cities  and  assessors  of  ))lantations. 

Section  IM.  The  act  entitled,  "An  Act  to  Restrict  the 
Sale  of  Intoxicating  iJrinks,"  approved  August  sixth,  one 
thousand    eight    Imndrcd    and    forty-six,  is    hereby  repealed, 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  353 

except  the  thirteen  sections  from  section  ten  to  section 
twenty-two  inclusive,  saving  and  reserving  all  actions  or 
other  proceedings,  which  are  already  commenced  by  authority 
of  the  same  ;  and  all  other  acts  and  parts  of  acts  inconsistent 
with  this  act  are  hereby  repealed.  This  act  to  take  eiiect 
from  and  after  its  approval  by  the  governor. 

From  the  enactment  of  that  laAv  to  the  present  time, 
save  for  about  two  years,  to  be  noted  hereafter,  the 
liquor  legislation  of  Maine  has  embodied  its  dis- 
tinctive features. 

The  political  classification  of  the  votes  for  and 
against  the  law  in  both  branches  of  the  legislature 
shows  that  it  was  in  no  sense  a  party  measure.  The 
two  leading  parties,  Democrats  and  Whigs,  were 
divided  upon  it,  a  majority  of  each  being  favorable. 
The  few  Free-Soilers  voted  solidly  for  it,  representing 
their  individual  views  as  temperance  men,  as  most  of 
that  party  were. 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  many  of  the  leaders, 
Democrats  and  Whigs,  were  afraid  of  the  political 
effect  of  the  law,  and  were  disposed  to  pass  the  matter 
over  as  lightly  as  possible.  For  fear  of  the  people 
they  had  refrained  from  actively  opposing  its  passage; 
for  fear  of  the  liquor-interest  they  would  have  been 
quite  inclined  to  have  the  bill  fail  to  pass,  if  only  the 
fe41ure  could  have  been  brought  about  by  some  other 
agency  than  their  own  votes. 

No  attempt  was  made  by  the  papers  of  either  party 
to  make  a  political  question  of  the  enactment  of  the 
law.  Some  of  them  ignored  it  altogether,  while  those 
that  referred  to  it  dealt  with  it  as  a  topic  entirely 
outside  the  range  of  party  politics.  Indeed,  the 
non-partisan  character  of  the  support  it  had  received 
in  the  legislature  made  that  inevitable.  This  status 
was  a  most  fortunate  one  for  the  measure,  for,  if  it 


354  KEMINISCENCES 

had  been  antagonized  at  the  first  state  election  which 
followed  its  enactment  by  a  strong  disciplined  party 
with  the  prestige  and  influence  of  age,  the  outcome 
miglit  have  differed  from  that  of  which  we  shall 
learn  later. 

If  I  remember  aright,  the  Inquirer,  the  organ  of  the 
Free-Soilers,  was  the  only  political  paper  in  Portland 
which  commented  upon  the  enactment  of  the  law, 
most  warmly  approving  it.  In  so  doing  the  Inquirer 
said: 

"  With  unusual  satisfaction  we  refer  our  readers  to  the 
entire  act.  It  is  an  honor  to  the  state,  beyond  any  other  act 
in  its  history,  thus  to  excel  all  other  civilized  states  in  bold, 
righteous  le2:islation  against  a  ajiant  evil,  under  which  inno- 

r^  o  o  o  ^ 

cence  l)leeds  and  humanity  weeps.  Other  states  have  now 
to  copy  this  statute  of  Maine.  But  the  law  will  not  execute 
itself.  There  must  be  an  inflexible  determination  through  the 
state  that  the  liquor-traffic  shall  now  be  stopped.  AYho  can 
estimate  the  benefit  of  this  law,  executed,  to  the  happiness 
and  prosperity  of  the  people  of  Maine  ?  " 

The  distinctively  temperance  papers  of  the  state 
approved  the  enactment  of  the  law  as  a  matter  of 
course.  It  was  but  a  realization  of  the  hopes  in- 
dulged in  by  the  active  temperance  element  for  years, 
toward  which  all  their  labors  had  been  directed. 

The  law  was  regarded  by  friends  of  temperance  out- 
side of  the  state  as  a  matter  of  so  much  importance 
that  the  committee  of  the  American  Temperance 
Union,  after  taking  advice  from  leading  temperance 
men  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  issued  a  call  for 
a  national  temperance  convention,  to  meet  at  Saratoga 
Springs,  on  the  'iOtli  of  August,  to  consider  the  Maine 
Law.  Seventeen  states  were  represented  by  more 
than  three  hundred  delegates,  accredited  from  every 
form  of  temperance  organization  existing  at  the  time. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  355 

Chancellor  Reuben  Hyde  Walworth,   of  New  York, 

presided,  and  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.  D.,  was  made 

chairman  of  the  business  committee. 

Those  in  attendance    upon    this   convention  from 

Maine  were  questioned  publicly  and  privately  by  the 

delegations  from  other    states,   who  manifested  the 

most  intense  interest  to  learn  all  that  was  to  be  told 

about  the  character  and  working  of  the  law.      The 

convention  adopted  the  following  resolution: 

"  Resoh^ed,  That  the  principle  assumed  and  carried  out  in 
the  Maine  Law,  that  spirituous  and  intoxicating  liquors,  kept 
for  sale  as  a  beverage,  should  be  destroyed  by  the  state,  as  a 
public  evil,  meets  the  approbation  of  this  convention,  as  con- 
sonant with  the  destruction  of  the  implements  of  gambling 
and  counterfeiting,  of  poisonous  food,  infectious  hides,  and 
weapons  of  war  in  the  hands  of  an  enemy  ;  that  if  the  liquor 
destroyed  is  private  property,  it  is  only  so  as  are  the  imple- 
ments of  the  counterfeiter,  dangerous  and  deadly  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  community  ;  that  its  destruction  is  no  waste 
of  the  bounties  of  Providence,  more  than  the  destruction  of 
noxious  weeds,  while  its  very  destruction  enriches  the  state, 
exceeding  the  amount  for  which  it  could  have  been  sold.  It 
tends  to  put  an  end  to  all  subterfuges,  frauds,  and  secret 
sales,  and  to  the  demand  for  it  in  the  community.  It  makes 
the  state  a  perfect  asylum  for  the  inebriate.  It  is  a  solemn 
manifestation  to  the  world  of  the  vile  and  worthless  nature  of 
the  article  destroyed,  and  an  unmistakable  token  to  the 
vendor  of  the  end  to  which  a  righteous  public  sentiment  will 
ultimately  bring  his  lousiness.  For  these  and  other  reasons, 
the  convention  give  it  their  hearty  approbation  ;  and  they  do 
strongly  recommend  to  all  the  friends  of  temperance  to 
cherish  it  as  the  sure,  and  the  only  sure  triumph  of  their 
cause,  and  continually  to  urge  its  adoption  upon  every  legis- 
lature." 

An  address  to  the  friends  of  temperance  in  the 
United  States  and  the  British  Provinces,  was  adopted, 
from  which  I  quote  the  following: 

"  So  great  a  scene  in  one  of  the  principal  states  of  our 
Union,  the  result  of  no  sudden  action,  of  no  wild  fanaticism, 


356  REMINISCENCES 

hut  of  years  of  profound  thought  and  arduous  labor,  impresses 
the  mind  witli  solemn  awe.  The  action  of  Maine  is  a  matter 
of  history.  Shall  we  not  thank  God  and  take  courage?  Shall 
wc  not  rise  from  one  end  of  America  to  the  other,  and  give 
her  the  approving  voice?  Shall  we  not  strive  for  the  same 
results  in  our  various  localities?  Shall  not  the  same  unrelent- 
ing foe  be  su1)dued  all  over  the  world?  Let  the  millions  of 
dollars  once  wasted  in  Maine,  now  ])e  expended  u})on  her 
farms,  her  buildings,  her  schools,  her  means  of  education  and 
religion,  and  soon,  among  all  her  sister  republics,  she  will  be 
an  {)])ject  of  universal  admiration." 

The  effect  of  this  convention  was  marked  through 
the  country,  in  its  stimulating  influence  upon  temper- 
ance sentiment  and  activity.  A  month  later  a  state 
convention  was  held  in  Massachusetts  which  was 
presided  over  by  Hon.  Nathaniel  P.  Banks.  The  con- 
vention, referring  to  legislation  applicable  to  the 
liquor-traffic,  declared  that  it  knew  ' '  of  no  law  based 
upon  the  true  principle  except  that  recently  enacted 
by  the  legislature  of  Maine."  Among  its  resolutions 
were  the  following: 

"Resolved,  That  the  Maine  Law,  not  merely  in  its  general 
principles  but  in  the  details  of  its  ])rovisions  —  as,  for  instance, 
in  the  simplicity  of  its  ap[)lication  ;  the  employment  of  the 
contraband  article  itself  in  testimony  ;  the  speed  and  certainty 
of  its  penalties ;  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  appeal ;  the 
removal  of  discretionary  power  from  magistrates  ;  the  with- 
drawal from  intoxicating  drinks  of  all  the  sanctions  of 
f)roperty  ;  and,  above  all,  th(Mr  conliscalion  and  destruction 
when  used  for  sale  ;  these  all  indicate  that  the  Maine  Law 
must  be  (what  actual  experience  is  daily  proving  that  it  is) 
the  one  efficient  engine  to  sup[)ress  the  open  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating drinks. 

"  Resolved,  That  these  characteristics  of  the  Maine  Law 
give  no  just  ground  of  complaint  to  the  unlawful  dealer  in 
liquors  ;  since  law  is  bound  to  give  no  security  to  i)roperty 
employed  in  contraband  traffic." 

Similar  action  was  taken  during  the  same  year 
by  state  conventions  in  Connecticut,   Rhode  Island, 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  357 

Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  New  York  and  New  Jer- 
sey. In  Pennsylvania  a  mass-meeting  was  held  at 
Harrisbnrg,  in  which  many  members  of  the  legislature 
participated,  and  adopted  resolutions  endorsing  the 
law. 

While  the  masses  of  the  friends  of  temperance 
throughout  the  country  were  expressing  their  gratifi- 
cation and  determination  through  such  resolutions 
as  have  been  quoted,  many  individuals,  who,  in  differ* 
ent  parts  of  our  land,  had  rendered  heroic  service  to 
the  cause,  hailed  the  advent  of  the  law  with  pleasure, 
and  recorded  themselves  as  subscribing  to  the  prin- 
ciple it  embodied.  Professor  Moses  Stuart,  of 
Andover,  Mass.,  wrote: 

"I  thank  and  praise  my  God,  that  by  his  holy  providence, 
there  is  one  people  on  the  face  of  this  wicked  world  who  dare 
to  do  their  duty  boldly,  fiiithfully,  and  thoroughly.  People 
of  Maine,  the  God  of  Heaven  bless  you  for  achieving  such  a 
victory  !     Many   triumphs   have    been  achieved  in  the    good 

cause,  but  none  like  yours You    combat    with   the 

body  of  sin  and  death  itself,  and  not  with  those  who  are 
deceived  and  misled." 

The  Hon.  Lucius  M.  Sargent,  of  Boston,  a  lawyer  of 
high  standing,  but  better  known  in  the  field  of  phi- 
lanthropy through  his  Temperance  Tales  and  other 
services  to  the  cause,  wrote: 

"Maine  has,  most  worthily,  extended  her  legislative  arm 
for  the  protection  of  her  children  ;  how  long  she  will  be 
enabled  to  retain  it  in  its  present  position  is  a  question  of  the 
deepest  interest  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  commonwealth, 
and  of  no  ordinary  solicitude  to  the  citizens  of  other  states." 

Gen.  John  H.  Cocke,  of  Virginia,  who  had  grown 
gray  in  the  service  of  the  cause  of  temperance  almost 
before  I  had  reached  my  majority,  said: 

24 


358  REMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL    DOW. 

"  I  am  grateful,  indescribably  grateful,  that  my  life  has 
been  spared  to  see  the  day,  when  a  sovereign  state  has  out- 
lawed the  master  evil  of  our  day  and  generation," 

The  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.  D.,  whose  early  ser- 
vices for  temperance  in  Maine  have  been  before 
noted,  said: 

"If  the  ])eople  prevail,  and  permanently  defend  themselves 
and  their  children,  as  the}'  have  a  right,  and  it  is  their  duty 
to  do,  from  the  evils  of  the  licjuor-traffic,  they  will  l)e  ))enc- 
f actors,  not  only  of  the  present  generation,  l)ut  of  all  future 
generations  of  men  ;  not  only  in  Maine,  but  in  every  state  in 
the  Union,  and  throughout  the  Christian  world." 

Gerritt  Smith,  the  distinguished  opponent  of  slav- 
ery and  friend  of  philanthropy,  wrote: 

"That  law  has  laid  the  foundation  for  an  unrivaled  prog- 
ress in  respectal)ility  and  knowledge  and  happiness.  If  no 
other  state  should  follow  her  example  in  this  respect,  Maine 
will  very  soon  be  able  to  boast,  if  indeed  she  cannot  thus 
boast  now,  that  her  people  surpass  every  other,  physically, 
mentally,  and  morally." 


CHAPTER  XV. 


MY    DUTY    AND    INCLINATION    TO    ENFORCE    THE    LAW.       NO- 
TICE    TO     LIQUOR     DEALERS    OF    MY    INTENTION    SO 
TO     DO.        THE     FIRST     SEIZURE.  INCIDENTS. 

LIQUOR    TRAFFIC    DRIVEN   OUT   OF    SIGHT 
AND    PRACTICALLY     EXTINGUISHED. 
SOME   REFLECTIONS. 


From  wliat  lias  been  said,  it  is  easy  to  understand 
that  Proliibition  in  Maine  was  not  accepted  in  a  spasm 
of  excitement.  The  foundation  for  it  had  been  deep- 
ly laid  in  a  long  and  arduous  educational  campaign, 
in  which  the  active  friends  of  temperance  had  been 
engaged  for  years.  This  they  had  done  in  the 
reverent  belief  that  in  endeavoring  to  place  the  trade 
in  intoxicants  under  the  ban  of  the  law  they  were 
serving  God,  and  in  the  confidence  that  they  were 
thus  promoting  the  highest  welfare  of  the  people  and 
the  best  interests  of  the  state. 

In  this  campaign  the  consciences  of  the  people  had 
been  aroused  and  their  judgment  enlightened.  Be- 
fore the  adoption  of  the  Maine  Law  the  masses  of  the 
people  throughout  a  large  portion  of  the  state  had 
come  to  know  what  the  liquor-traffic  really  was,  and 
to  realize,  to  some  extent  at  least,  that  it  was  at  war 
with  their  material,  as  well  as  their  higher,  interests. 


300  REMINISCENCES 

To  that  educational  work  temperance  men  in  Main© 
had  cheerfully  contributed  time  and  labor  and  money. 
In  cliurclies.  in  schoolhouses,  in  halls,  at  every  avail- 
able point  from  which  they  could  reach  the  ears  of 
the  i)eoi)le,  they  had  explained  the  nature  of  the 
tralhc  they  were  attacking,  and  had  called  attention 
to  its  pernicious  influence  and  effects. 

AVhen  not  actually  engaged  in  speaking,  they  were 
busy  at  home  devising  ways  and  means  of  getting 
facts  bearing  upon  the  problem  before  all  the  people, 
with  the  purpose  of  arousing  in  the  masses  a  desire 
for  relief,  of  crystallizing  that  into  a  determination  to 
secure  it,  and  in  organizing  a  sufficient  numl^er  of 
conscientious  and  fearless  citizens,  who  would  dare  to 
disregard  the  dictation  of  the  party  leaders  they  had 
been  wont  to  follow,  and  to  use  their  own  votes  to 
represent  their  own  convictions;  and,  having  done 
this,  to  lead  their  improvised  forces  in  the  most  prac- 
ticable way  to  accomplish  the  end  that  was  sought: 
the  outlawry  of  the  business  they  had  come  to  abhor. 

In  doing  this  work  they  had  not  concealed  their 
opinions.  They  did  not  make  a  secret  of  the  end  they 
had  in  view.  More  than  this.  They  had  never 
thouaht  of  deferring  that  end  to  a  more  convenient 
season.  They  had  not  put  off  the  day  of  laboring  for 
it  "  until  the  people  should  be  ready  for  Prohibition," 
l)ut  liad  addressed  themselves  to  the  task  of  mak- 
ing ready  for  it  by  insisting  that  it  was  right  and 
proper  in  itself,  and  that  the  sin  and  shame  and  crime 
of  the  traffic  ought  to  be  at  once  and  forever  sup- 
pressed. There  was  no  danger  of  obtaining  Prohibi- 
tion too  soon.  The  way  to  it  was  hard  and  ui)hill  its 
entire  length.  If  it  was  ever  to  be  attained,  it  was 
necessary  to  set  about  cliinbiim  at  once. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  3G1 

The  friends,  patrons,  and  apologists  for  the  trade 
knew  just  what  its  determined  opponents  were  trying 
to  accomplish.  They  had  fair  notice,  they  had  every 
opportunity  to  make  such  opposition  as  they  were  dis- 
posed; in  fact,  they  had  made  more  or  less  of  a  fight 
at  every  step.  They  had  yielded  nothing.  Whatever 
ground  had  been  gained  had  been  taken  from  them  by 
hard  and  persistent  work.  The  "  Sixty-Niners  "  had 
been  sneered  at;  the  friends  of  "Total  Abstinence" 
had  been  denounced,  as  at  variance  with  nature  and 
revelation;  the  license  laws  had  been  ignored,  and 
those  who  had  insisted  upon  the  observance  of  their 
restrictive  features  had  been  insulted,  assaulted, 
mobbed,  and  otherwise  injured  and  abused  at  every 
point. 

Later  I  will  show  that  the  fact  of  my  past  interest 
and  activity  in  temperance  was  made  use  of  in  an 
effort  to  make  it  embarrassing  for  me  to  discharge  my 
official  duty  as  I  had  urged  others  to  do.  Now,  how- 
ever, the  movement  had  reached  a  stage  where  it  was 
quite  certain  that  those  engaged  in  the  liquor-traffic 
would  not  sneer.  Denunciation  would  not  aid  them. 
The  friends  of  Prohibition  had  passed  through  all 
that.  The  day  had  gone  by  for  assaults,  for  mobs, 
and  violence  of  every  form,  but  it  was  certain  that  the 
fight  was  by  no  means  ended.  The  weapon  was  pre- 
pared. It  must  be  tried,  to  see  of  what  temper  was 
its  steel,  how  keen  its  cut,  how  sharp  and  far-reaching 
its  point.  The  crucial  test  was  now  to  come.  Could 
those  who  had  carried  the  cause  thus  far  be  relied 
upon  to  follow  to  the  end  ? 

Most  of  us  who  had  been  in  the  front  of  the  battle 
had  faith  in  the  people  in  this  particular.  I  had 
traveled  thousands  and  thousands  of  miles.     Over  a 


36-2  REMINISCENCES 

consideral)le  portion  of  tlie  state  I  was  familiar  with 
every  cross-road.  No  spire  pointed  skyward  that  did 
not  mark  the  spot  of  some  effort  to  prepare  the  people 
for  what  they  had  now  secured.  No  schoolhouse  was 
to  be  seen  on  hill  or  in  dale  that  had  not  echoed  to 
the  denunciation  of  the  infamous  trade. 

The  approaches  to  nearly  every  town-house,  to 
thousands  of  homes,  had  been  almost  literally  sown 
with  temperance  literature,  explaining  the  nature  and 
effect  of  the  liquor-traffic  and  the  intimate  connection 
between  it  and  misery,  wretchedness,  pauperism,  and 
crime.  I  had  no  shadow  of  a  fear  that,  when  the 
people  should  have  had  an  opportunity  to  contrast  the 
condition  of  the  state  when  comparatively  free  from 
the  liquor-traffic  under  Prohibition  with  what  they 
had  known  of  its  condition  under  license,  they  would 
ever  consent  to  sanction  the  pernicious  trade  under 
the  form  of  law. 

To  give  the  citizens  of  Portland  such  an  opportunity 
I  was  fully  determined,  and  if  I  should  succeed  I  was 
confident  it  would  go  far  to  set  an  example  to  the 
entire  state.  No  other  duty  devolving  upon  me  as 
mayor  would  be  sacrificed  or  neglected  by  a  vigorous 
and  impartial  enforcement  of  the  new  law,  and  to 
do  that  I  was  bound  by  the  obligations  of  my  posi- 
tioii.  There  was  no  question  in  my  mind  as  to  what 
course  was  right,  and  my  judgment  satisfied  me  that 
that  which  I  lielieved  to  be  right  would  be  to  the 
advantage  of  the  city  whose  interests  I  had  at  heart, 
and  lor  tlic  benefit  of  tlie  cause  to  which  I  was 
devoted  without  reserve. 

I  found  myself  in  a  somewhat  anomalous  situation. 
For  years  my  connection  with  eiforts  to  enforce  the 
aiiii-li-iuor-sclliiig  legislation  of  the  state  had  been 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  363 

purely  voluntary.  I  had  occupied  no  official  position, 
and  liad  been  under  no  other  obligation  thereto  than 
that  resting  on  all  good  citizens.  In  the  discharge  of 
that  service  I  had  repeatedly  called  upon  those  whose 
duty  it  was  to  enforce  the  restrictive  features  of  the 
old  license  laws,  or  to  bring  the  prohibitions  of  the  law 
of  1846  to  bear  upon  the  traffic,  warmly  urging  upon 
them  action  in  that  direction,  and  pointing  out,  when 
the  circumstances  seemed  to  justify  it,  what  appeared 
to  me  to  be  incumbent  upon  them  in  that  particular. 

Time  and  again  I  had  met  with  substantially  the 
same  reply,  to  the  effect  that  it  was  all  very  well  for 
me,  a  private  citizen,  to  look  at  the  matter  in  that 
light,  but  that  it  was  the  privilege  of  the  official  to 
decide  for  himself  what  his  duties  were.  Officers 
would  insist  that  they  could  not  escape  the  reproof  of 
the  people  for  enforcing  a  statute  so  obnoxious  as 
were  those  provisions  of  the  license  law,  devised  to 
curtail  the  profits  of  the  licensees  by  confining  their 
business  to  the  classes  therein  specified,  or  even  those 
which  were  designed  to  swell  their  profits  by  prevent- 
ing unlicensed  parties  from  selling;  while  as  to  the  law 
of  1846,  that,  being  prohibitory  in  character  and  there- 
fore more  obnoxious  to  the  trade  and  its  friends,  was 
one  as  to  the  suggested  enforcement  of  which  these 
officials  had  been  even  more  impatient. 

It  availed  nothing  for  my  purpose  to  urge  upon 
officers  that,  if  it  were  necessary  to  excuse  themselves 
to  the  people  for  doing  their  duty,  it  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  refer  to  the  law,  to  the  record  of  their 
appointment  or  election,  and  to  their  oaths  to  dis- 
charge without  fear  or  favor  the  responsibilities  of 
the  positions  they  occupied.  To  such  suggestions 
the    reply    was  in  effect  uniform,    that    I    was    an 


364  REMINISCENCES 

extreiiiis^t  upon  that  point,  and  altliougli  they  would 
express  a  great  deal  of  sympathy  with  me  in  my 
views  as  to  the  evils  of  intemperance  in  general,  they 
would  remind  me  that  I  was  generally  regarded  as 
fanatical  on  the  whole  subject.  And  when  I  would 
ask  them  if  they  thought.it  "fanatical"  or  "extreme," 
or  "unreasonable "  to  expect  an  official  to  perform  the 
duty  which  the  law  had  plainly  marked  out  for  him,  I 
was  customarily  reminded  that  they  had  a  great  deal 
of  business  on  hand  at  that  particular  time  and  could 
not  give  more  attention  to  the  matter  just  then. 

Now  the  situation  was  different.  The  new  enact- 
ment found  me  the  chief  executive  officer  of  Portland. 
Now  the  responsibility  was  upon  my  shoulders.  Now 
I  was  called  upon  by  the  duties  of  my  position  to  do 
what  I  had  so  often  enjoined  upon  others.  Not 
underestimating  the  difficulties,  certain  to  be  great 
at  the  inception  of  the  new  departure,  I  determined  to 
do  my  full  duty  in  the  premises,  confident  that  I 
could  render  no  greater  service  to  my  native  city, 
every  interest  of  which  was  dear  to  me,  than  to 
relieve  it  from  the  infinite  evils  of  the  traffic  in 
intoxicating  drinks. 

The  only  question  which  concerned  me  was  how 
best  to  take  the  initiatory  step.  I  was  anxious  that 
there  should  be  as  little  friction  as  possible,  and  at 
the  same  time  was  satisfied  that  any  unnecessary 
delay  in  instituting  proceedings  under  the  new  law 
would  be  considered  by  the  vendors  of  the  contra- 
])and  liquors  as  an  indication  that  the  authorities 
were  hesitating  as  to  enforcing  the  new  and  untried 
process  of  search  and  seizure. 

The  law  went  into  effect  on  the  second  of  June, 
1851,  and  on  the  next  day  I  consulted  with  several 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  365 

members  of  the  city  government,  and  our  unanimous 
conclusion  was  that  it  would  be  wise  to  give  imme- 
diate notice  of  our  determination  that  the  law  would 
be  vigorously  and  impartially  enforced,  and  in  doing 
this  to  give  a  reasonable  opportunity  to  all  who  were 
willing  to  abandon  the  business  to  dispose  of  the 
stocks  of  liquor  they  might  have  on  hand,  provided 
that  they  were  sold  to  be  sent  out  of  the  state. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  of  June,  our  citizens 
had  an  opportunity  to  read  in  the  daily  papers  the 
following  notice: 

I  have  been  requested  by  several  persons  whose  opin- 
ions are  entitled  to  respect  to  give  some  public  notice 
of  the  manner  in  which  I  propose  to  execute  the 
recently  enacted  liquor  law,  so  far  as  this  department  is 
concerned.  No  violator  of  law  can  reasonably  complain  of 
promptitude  and  energy  in  its  administration.  Certainly, 
those  persons  who  are  engaged  in  the  unlawful  traffic  in 
intoxicating  drinks,  from  which  the  people  suffer  great  mis- 
chief, cannot  complain  that  I  should  avail  myself  of  all  the 
power  which  the  law  has  put  into  my  hands ^  and  which  the 
city  council  may  entrust  to  me  to  free  the  city  as  soon  as 
possible  from  this  great  evil. 

I  am  informed  that  the  stock  of  liquors  in  the  hands  of 
dealers  is  very  large,  and  its  loss  would  fall  heavily  on  some 
of  them.  I  theretore  propose  to  allow  such  persons  a  reason- 
able time  to  dispose  of  their  liquors  by  shipping  them  otf  to 
other  states  or  countries,  the  governments  of  which  allow 
intoxicating  liquors  to  be  sold  to  their  people.  But  if  it 
comes  to  my  knowledge  that  any  dealer  here  violates  the 
law  by  selling  such  li(juors  to  our  people,  I  shall  use  all 
means  in  my  power  to  bring  such  persons  to  punishment. 
After  the  lapse  of  a  reasonable  time,  I  shall  avail  myself 
of  all  proper  means  to  discover  and  seize  all  intoxicating 
liquors  unlawfully  kept,  that  they  may  be  promptly  destroyed 
according  to  law. 

I  hope  I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  dealers  in 
this  citv  will  not  contend  with  the  government  in  this  matter, 
and  will  promptly  aliandon  a  business  which  is  ruinous  to  the 
highest  interests  of  the   community  and  which  has  been  out- 


366  REMINISCENCES 

la  wed  by  the  le<rislature  of  the  state  with  great  unanimity. 
The  people  of  this  state,  and  this  city  in  particular,  have 
<riven  emphatic  expression  to  their  wish  to  be  relieved  from 
the  terrible  evils  which  result  necessarily  from  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  drinks,  and  my  duty  will  require  that  I  should 
emjilov  alllhe  means  in  my  powder  to  give  full  force  and  effect 
to  the'law.  "  Neal  Dow,    Mayor. 

The  effect  of  this  notice  was  beneficial  in  the 
extreme  for  the  purpose  it  was  intended  to  serve. 
In  Portland,  but  a  short  time  before  the  enactment 
of  the  law,  a  large  committee  had  been  appointed 
by  the  Washingtonian  Temperance  Society  to  ascer- 
tain the  number  of  grog-shops  in  the  city.  This 
committee  was  composed  of  several  from  each  ward, 
and  it  had  divided  and  subdivided  its  work  in  such 
a  way  as  to  ensure  a  thorough  canvass.  In  its  report 
the  committee  stated  that  it  had  found  in  the  city 
more  than  three  hundred  open  retail  liquor-shops, 
besides  several  wholesale  establishments. 

The  consternation  with  which  the  three  hundred 
or  more  liquor-dealers  read  the  notice  that  in  a  short 
time  at  most  their  business  must  be  stopped,  was 
mingled  with  a  feeling  on  their  part  of  surprise  and 
relief.  In  the  short  time  that  they  had  had  since  the 
enactment  of  the  law  to  consider  the  situation  none 
of  them  had  dreamed  of  any  leniency,  and  I  imagine 
that  few  of  them  had  had  much  hope  that  there 
would  be  any  timidity  or  delay  upon  the  part  of  the 
officials.  As  a  consequence  I  had  numerous  calls 
that  day  from  those  who  had  long  been  engaged  in 
the  traffic  —  in  violation  of  law  be  it  remembered  — 
some  of  them  to  thank  me  for  the  opportunity  that 
had  been  given  them  to  save  their  stocks,  and  all 
of  them  to  promise  me  that  they  would  immediately 
abandon  the  business.     The  wholesale  trade  ceased 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  367 

almost  instantly.  Those  engaged  in  it,  with  but  one 
exception,  I  believe,  assured  me  that  they  would  make 
no  more  sales,  and  would,  as  soon  as  possible,  prepare 
their  stocks  for  shipment  out  of  the  state. 

In  a  day  or  two,  drays  loaded  with  liquor  were 
to  be  seen  passing  through  the  streets  on  their  way  to 
railroad  stations  or  steamboat  landings,  w^hile  of  the 
retail  dealers  only  a  few  were  left  about  whose  places 
the  slightest  indication  of  intent  to  violate  the  law 
was  visible.  Thus,  without  other  action  on  the  part 
of  the  authorities  than  the  notice  of  their  intention 
to  enforce  the  law,  a  large  proportion  of  the  traffic 
was  immediately  suppressed  without  excitement,  with- 
out confusion,  and  without  delay. 

Shortly  after  its  publication,  similar  notices  to  that 
given  by  the  authorities  of  Portland  were  issued  in 
many  of  the  larger  towns  throughout  the  state,  and 
with  similar  results,  and  large  quantities  of  the  now 
contraband  article  were  shipped  to  Boston  and  New 
York.  My  information  was  such  as  to  satisfy  me 
that  the  wholesale  dealers  generally  throughout  the 
state  followed  the  example  of  those  in  Portland  and 
abandoned  the  business  at  once. 

The  shipments  of  liquor  on  the  part  of  the  wholesal- 
ers disturbed  some  of  our  citizens  whose  sympathies 
in  the  controversies  that  had  led  up  to  Prohibition 
had  been  rather  with  the  temperance  movement  than 
against  it.  This  fact  affords  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  influence  of  legislation  as  an  educational  force. 
Some  time  after  the  law  had  ceased  to  recognize  the 
retailing  of  liquor  to  be  drunk  on  the  premises  as 
right,  wholesaling  in  quantities  of  not  less  than 
twenty-eight  gallons  continued  to  be  legalized.  That 
provision  led  many  citizens  to  consider  that  there  was 


368  REMINISCENCES 

a  difference  between  the  moral  iniquity  of  the  whole- 
sale, and  that  of  the  retail,  trade.  Hence  numbers 
even  among  those  who  would  not  engage  either  in 
wholesaling  or  in  retailing  liquor,  with  or  without  the 
sanction  of  law,  thought  it  more  decent  to  sell  it  in 
quantities  than  by  the  glass,  while  there  were  those 
who,  holding  it  immoral  to  sell  directly  to  a  consumer, 
thought  it  no  wrong  to  sell  it  by  the  cask  to  those 
whose  consciences  did  not  forbid  them  to  put  the 
bottle  to  their  neighbors'  lips,  and  make  them,  or,  for 
that  matter,  their  wives  and  children  drunken  also. 

Under  the  law  which  thus  discriminated  between 
wholesalers  and  retailers  of  intoxicants  there  were 
men  with  consciences  too  enlightened  or  with  too  much 
regard  for  public  opinion  to  sell  liquor  by  the  glass, 
or  who  would  not  violate  the  law  in  so  doing,  who 
did  not  hesitate  to  roll  a  cask  of  liquor  from  their  own 
stores  into  that  of  their  next  door  neighbor  —  which 
they  could  do  lawfully,  be  it  remembered  —  who  with 
no  qualms  of  conscience  to  trouble,  and  no  regard  for 
the  law  of  the  state  which  forbade  it,  would  peddle  it 
to  all  comers,  moderate  and  intemperate  drinkers,  old 
and  young  alike.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was 
not  strange  that  the  "exiling"  of  the  stocks  of 
wholesalers  became  a  matter  of  comment,  even  among 
those  wlio  were  willing  to  have  the  "drinking- 
houses  and  tippling-shops"  closed.  These  latter  had 
in  one  form  or  another  for  a  long  time  been  more 
or  less  under  the  restraints  of  the  law.  Accustomed 
to  see  such  dealt  with  as  places  of  rather  questionable 
resort,  a  severer  apijlication  of  law  to  them  was  not 
especially  obnoxious  to  the  sense  of  propriety  of  those 
wlio  yet  deemed  wliolesale  dealing  decent.  But  as 
to  the  trade  of  tin-  larger  dealers  —  the  merchants  — 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  369 

many  felt  otherwise,  and  as  truck-loads  of  liQuors 
passed  through  the  streets  toward  the  depots  and 
wharves,  they  began  to  fear  that  the  business  of  the 
city  would  suffer,  and  to  think  that  the  wholesalers 
ought  not  to  be  disturbed. 

Some  wholesalers,  with  business  and  social  con- 
nections to  which  the  retailers  could  not  aspire,  saw 
an  opportunity  for  making  a  point  in  this  against  the 
new  law.  In  doing  it  they  had,  of  course,  the  earnest 
support  of  the  retailers  whom  they  supplied,  and 
the  turpitude  of  whose  business  they  in  a  measure 
shielded  under  the  cloaks  of  their  own  respectability. 
Now  these  began  to  insist  that  the  "business "  of  the 
city  was  sure  to  be  ruined.  In  this  they  had  the 
support  of  citizens  not  directly  or  indirectly  connected 
with  the  traffic  in  liquors,  but  who  really  believed 
that  whatever  could  be  called  ' '  business, "  regardless 
of  its  nature,  would  inure  to  the  material  prosperity 
of  the  city  and  state. 

Another  illustration  of  the  educational  influence  of 
law  was  that  traced  to  the  permission  accorded 
"taverners"  to  retail,  long  after  it  was  withdrawn 
from  the  ordinary  trader.  That  provision,  originally 
based  upon  the  notion  that  as  the  tavern  was  the 
"home"  of  those  domiciled  in  it,  it  should  be  per- 
mitted to  provide  those  it  temporarily  sheltered  with 
whatever  they  might  desire,  has  had  such  an  influence 
that  there  are  men  who  still  hold  that  there  is  a 
moral  difference  between  selling  liquor  at  a  bar-room, 
under  the  same  roof  with  a  hotel,  and  retailing  it 
from  a  bar  having  no  such  respectable  connection. 
Yet,  it  is  within  bounds  to  say  that  there  is  not  a 
hotel-bar  in  New  England  that  does  not  furnish  liquor 
to  a  hundred  who  run  in  from  the  street  solely  to 


370  REMINISCENCES 

obtain  it,  to  every  one  of  the    genuine  hotel  guests 
that  it  supplies. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  therefore,  the  authorities 
were  in  receipt  of  many  suggestions  that  it  would  be 
desirable  to  permit  the  hotels  to  continue  their  busi- 
ness as  before.  Meanwhile,  on  the  12th  of  June,  the 
city  council  passed  the  following: 

''Ordered:  That,  to  give  full  force  and  efiect  to  the  act 
for  the  suppression  of  drinking-houses  and  tippling-shops, 
recently  enacted,  and  to  procure  the  full  benefits  thereof  to 
the  city  as  speedily  as  possible,  the  mayor  be,  and  he  is 
hereby  authorized  to  draw  his  orders  on  the  treasury  from 
time  to  time,  and  for  such  sums  as  he  may  judge  necessary 
and  proper  to  secure  the  prompt  enforcement  of  the  law." 

By  the  passage  of  this  order  the  liquor-dealers  and 
their  sympathizers  saw  that  the  aldermen  and  council- 
men  were  in  accord  with  the  mayor,  and  would  sustain 
his  lawful  actions  in  his  efforts  to  suppress  their  trade. 
Here  it  may  be  said  that  the  mayor  in  no  case 
availed  himself  of  this  permission,  because  he  made 
the  liquor-sellers  pay  all  the  costs  of  the  vigorous 
campaign  against  them,  and  at  the  end  of  the  munici- 
]jal  year  he  had  a  balance  of  several  hundred  dollars 
in  the  treasury  for  a  continuation  of  the  war. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  shipment  of  liquors 
began,  following  the  notice  referred  to,  my  office  was 
overrun  with  citizens  who  called  to  see  me  uix)n  the 
matter  of  the  business  effect  of  the  execution  of  the 
law.  Some  of  its  opponents  came  to  remonstrate  with 
me,  some  of  its  friends  to  inform  me  of  what  was 
being  said  in  many  business  circles.  It  was  not 
difficult  to  convince  the  real  friends  of  Prohibition 
that  no  trouble  need  be  apprehended  on  this  score. 
They  knew  the  effect  of  the  liquor-traffic,  and  that  it 


OF    NEAL    JK)W.  371 

tended  to  sap,  undermine  and  destroy  the  very  foun- 
dation and  superstructure  of  all  business  prosperity. 
These  interviews  multiplied  for  days,  and  finally  I 
concluded  it  best  to  answer  publicly  some  of  the 
questions  poured  upon  me  touching  the  effect  of  the 
execution  of  the  law  upon  the  general  business  of  the 
city.  Accordingly  I  prepared  and  caused  to  be  dis- 
tributed the  following: 

"In  a  commercial  and  trading  community  like  ours  the 
inquiry  will  very  naturally  arise  in  the  minds  of  the  people, 
What  eflect  will  the  new  liquor  law  have  upon  the  business 
of  the  city  and  state.  That  this  law  will  operate  decidedly 
upon  the  business  of  the  state  is  conceded  by  all,  and  the 
effect  will  be  in  the  highest  degree  beneticial. 

"At  the  lowest  estimate,  the  annual  expenditure  in  this 
state  for  intoxicating  drinks  has  ])een  two  millions  of  dollars. 
This  has  been  a  dead  loss  to  the  people,  and  even  worse  than 
that,  for  it  has  injured  the  productive  industry  of  the  state  to 
an  equal  amount,  at  the  very  least ;  so  we  have  here  an  actual 
annual  loss  to  the  state  of  four  millions  of  dollars,  arisina: 
from  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks,  and  which  the  bill 
alluded  to  was  intended  and  is  calculated  to  save  to  the 
people. 

"  But  it  may  be  said,  if  that  view  of  the  case  be  correct, 
trade  must  suffer,  at  any  rate,  to  the  amount  of  two  millions 
of  dollars  ;  for  that  amount  of  merchandise,  or  most  of  it, 
will  no  longer  be  bought  and  sold.  That  amount  of  these 
particular  articles  will  not  be  sold,  it  is  true,  but  then  a 
greater  value  of  articles,  useful  and  necessary  to  the  com- 
fort and  enjoyment  of  the  people,  will  be  sold,  while  they 
will  be  able  to  earn  much  more  than  they  did  while  consuming 
this  immense  quantity  of  strong  drinks. 

"  The  larger  portion  of  these  drinks  were  consumed  by  the 
working  people,  and  in  order  to  obtain  them  they  were  com- 
pelled to  forego  many  articles  of  comfort  and  necessity  to 
their  families.  When  the  temptation  to  indulge  is  removed 
out  of  their  way,  they  will  not  take  much  trouble  to  obtain 
strong  drink,  their  habits  will  be  changed,  their  appetites  will 
no  longer  torment  them,  their  money  will  be  spent  for  articles 
useful  to  their  families,  their  health  and  character  will  be 
restored,  and  they  will  earn  more,  enjoy  more,  and  save  more 


S7'2  REMINISCENCES 

than  they  ever  did  before.  This  process  is  going  on  in  this 
city  at  this  moment,  and  is  so  olivious  as  to  be  noticed  and 
remarked  upon  by  the  most  casual  observer. 

'•The  cost  of  strong  drinks  to  the  people  of  this  state  has 
been  greater  than  the  cost  of  their  imported  tlour,  which  is 
regarded  as  a  serious  drain  upon  the  wealth  of  the  state. 
Our  statesmen  and  legislators  have  often  spoken  of  the 
effect  upon  our  prosperity  of  the  expenditure  of  so  much  of 
our  earnings  as  is  required  to  procure  the  Hour  which  we 
consume  ;  and  an  effort  was  made  by  our  legislature  some 
vears  ago  to  correct  this  evil,  by  offering  liberal  bounties  to 
our  farmers  on  domestic  wheat,  that  resulted  in  nothing  but 
a  heavy  state  debt,  which  yet  remains  unpaid.  Yet  our 
legislators  and  statesmen  have  only  recently  considered  the 
fact  that  we  spend  more  money  for  strong  drinks  than  we  do 
for  Hour  and  that  this  great  sum  is  a  total  loss  to  the  state, 
and  that  another  loss,  equal  to  it  in  amount,  results 
therefrom,  to  wit :  the  diminished  industry  and  habits  of 
unthriftiness  which  are  always  produced  by  the  use  of  these 
drinks. 

"The  money  which  we  spend  for  imported  flour  is  not 
all  lost  to  the  state — very  far  from  it;  perhaps  it  is  no 
loss  at  all.  The  labor  which  would  be  spent  in  raising 
domestic  wheat  tor  our  own  use  is  now  occupied  in  other 
branches  of  industry  ;  and  many  intelligent  men  among  us  are 
of  the  opinion  that  we  can  l)uy  our  flour  cheaper  than  we  can 
produce  it  —  that  is,  the  same  amount  of  lal)or,  as  at  present 
emi)loyed,  produces  a  greater  amount  of  value  than  it  would 
if  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  wheat.  AMth  the  same 
amount  of  labor,  they  say,  we  can  produce  more  cattle,  hay, 
potatoes,  fish  and  ships  than  we  could  of  wheat,  and  we  can 
exchange  these  articles  for  our  flour,  and  have  a  l)alance  in  our 
favor.  That  is  my  opinion  ;  l)ut  whether  it  is  correct  or  not, 
the  loss  or  gain  in  this  matter  of  buying  our  flour  is  precise- 
ly equal  to  the  difference  either  way  between  the  results 
of  our  industry  as  at  i)resent  employed,  and  Avhat  they 
would  be  if  the  same  labor  Avere  devoted  to  the  production  of 
wheat. 

"  liut  not  so  with  the  amount  exjjcnded  by  our  people  for 
strong  drinks.  That  is  a  dead  loss  to  its  full  extent,  and 
nmch  worse  than  that,  for  the  consumption  of  these  drinks 
entails  upon  us  many  other  expenditures  and  evils  of  various 
kinds  fr(jm  which  we  shall  be  entirely  relieved  by  the  ojxu'ation 
of  the  l;t\v  nlhided  to.     At  the  very  lowest  estimate,  the  amount 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  373 

expended  by  the  people  of  Portland  for  strong  drinks  may 
be  estimated  at  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  year,  and 
the  loss  to  an  equal  amount  in  the  diminished  industry  and 
the  unthriftiness  of  those  who  consume  them.  By  the  full 
operation  of  this  law,  and  the  obedience  of  the  people  to  it, 
this  great  sum  will  be  saved  and  earned  in  our  midst,  and 
will  go  to  swell  the  amount  of  the  annually  accumulating 
wealth  of  the  city. 

"The  trade  of  the  city  will  also  be  improved,  as  will  the 
business  of  all  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  rum  trade, 
except  the  retail  groggeries,  which  are  of  course  extinguished. 
A  law  which  stops  entirely  the  sale  of  strong  drinks  is  not 
only  for  the  good  of  the  consumer  but  for  the  advantage  of 
all  of  those  wholesale  dealers,  who  have  a  legitimate  busi- 
ness aside  from  the  sale  of  these  drinks.  The  management  of 
those  dealers  who  supply  strong  liquors  to  their  customers  is 
like  that  of  boys  with  productive  fruit  trees  standing  by  the 
roadside.  They  begin  to  gather  the  fruit  before  it  is  half 
grown,  and  while  it  is  injurious  to  health.  It  would  be 
much  better  every  way  for  them  to  wait  until  the  fruit  be 
fully  grown  and  ripe.  They  all  acknowledge  this  —  every 
one  says  he  would  be  glad  to  wait,  but  others  will  not ;  and 
if  he  does  not  get  his  share  of  the  green  fruit  he  will  have 
none  at  all,  and  so  the  trees  are  stripped  from  year  to  year. 
A  rule  which  will  compel  all  the  boys  to  wait  until  the  fruit 
be  ripe  would  be  for  the  benefit  of  all,  and  none  but  bad  boys 
would  object  to  it.  All  others  would  consent  to  such  a  rule 
with  pleasure.  So  it  is  with  this  rum  business.  All  those 
engaged  in  it  will  and  do  confess  that  the  traffic  is  wrong  in 
principle  and  bad  in  practice  ;  but  they  say  they  cannot  help 
it,  if  they  do  not  sell  others  will ;  and  while  the  withdrawal  of 
any  one  in  particular  would  not  diminish  the  quantity  con- 
sumed that  individual  would  lose  his  share  of  the  profits. 
This  is  the  universal  mode  in  which  persons  engaged  in  this 
trade  justify  themselves. 

"  But  this  law  is  intended  and  calculated  to  compel  all  these 
dealers  to  abandon  that  traffic,  and  a  compliance  with  its 
requirements  will  be  for  the  advantage  of  all.  The  trade  of 
Portland  and  the  state  will  be  favorably  affected  by  this  law 
in  every  way.  It  will  operate  on  the  large  scale  precisely  as 
it  would  on  a  small  one.     Let  us  state  a  case  : 

"A  wholesale  and  retail  dealer  has  the  trade  of  a  certain 
region  of  country  secured  to  him  —  say  six  miles  square  — 
containing   five    thousand    inhabitants,    industrious,    working 

25 


374  REMINISCENCES 

people.  The  trader  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  with  many  years 
of  active  usefulness  before  him,  and  with  a  large  family  of 
sons  to  help  him  in  his  Imsiness,  and  to  succeed  to  it. 
These  people  require  large  quantities  of  goods  of  various 
kinds  for  domestic  consum})tion,  clicy  pay  in  cash  and  in  the 
products  of  their  industry  ;  they  consume  no  strong  drinks, 
they  know  nothing  of  them,  but  the  trader  knows  he  could 
easilv  introduce  a  taste  for  them  among  the  people  ;  he  sits 
down  to  think  about  it  as  a  mere  matter  of  interest. 

'*  Now,  as  a  matter  of  business,  what  course  should  he  take? 
If  other  traders  were  furnishing  them  with  such  drinks  it 
might  be  another  matter.  But  he  has  the  entire  trade  of  that 
community,  and  his  children  will  have  it  after  him.  What 
should  he  do  ?  ^Nlost  certainly  he  should  not  introduce  strong 
drinks  among  them.  Everybody  will  agree  that  such  a 
measure  would  be  most  unwise.  The  people  would  have  so 
much  less  means  with  which  to  purchase  articles  of  necessity 
and  comfort,  they  would  immediately  become  less  industrious 
and  less  thrifty,  a  considerable  part  of  their  earnings  would 
be  expended  for  paupers,  and  in  detecting,  convicting  and 
imprisoning  criminals  ;  and  as  this  community  should  become 
more  and  more  under  the  influence  of  strong  drinks  they 
would  become  poor,  unthrifty,  without  industry ;  they  would 
become  vicious,  profligate,  and  if  these  liquors  should  have 
their  full  ofl'ect  upon  them  they  would  become  a  community  of 
va<rabonds  and  beirsars,  and  our  trader  would  have  entirely 
ruined  his  customers  and  lost  his  business. 

"  All  these  consequences  flow  inevitably  from  the  traffic  in 
strong  drinks,  and  are  more  or  less  extensive,  as  the  people 
are  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  these  drinks.  Kow 
what  would  be  true  of  the  Imsiness  of  the  trader  in  the  case 
stated  is  true  of  this  city  and  of  this  state.  This  city  has  the 
entire  trade  of  a  great  region  of  country,  and  this  trading 
ground  is  l)ecoming  more  extensive  every  day.  It  is  for  the 
interest  of  this  city  to  keej)  strong  drinks  out  of  that  countr}', 
because  in  such  a  case  the  people  will  earn  more,  buy  more, 
consume  more  ;  they  will  be  happier  people,  better  people, 
they  will  be  better  educated,  and  richer  from  year  to  yeai", 
and,  what  is  the  great  thing  with  many  men,  they  will  not 
only  buy  more  but  i)ay  better." 

Not  long  after  this  I  had  a  call  at  my  house  one 
evening  from  one  of  (jiir  wealthiest  and  most  infliien- 


OF   N^EAL    DOW.  375 

tial  citizens,  a  Whig,  one  of  those  who  had  actively 
opposed  my  election  because  he  had  never  approved 
my  methods  in  connection  with  temperance,  and,  as 
I  thought,  because  he  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
reform.  Under  the  circumstances  the  call  surprised 
me,  and  I  was  at  a  loss  to  understand  its  object. 
That  was  soon  disclosed  by  his  suggestion  that  he, 
with  some  other  influential  Whigs  whom  he  named, 
would  be  glad  to  support  me  most  cordially  in  the 
future,  but  upon  the  condition,  delicately  veiled  in 
well  chosen  phrases,  that  I  would  show  some  consid- 
eration in  the  enforcement  of  the  new  law.  Our 
conversation  was  long  and  earnest,  but  in  good  part 
throughout.  In  it  I  tried  to  convince  him  that  I  had 
no  option  under  my  ofiicial  oath,  save  to  execute 
Jbhe  law  against  the  liquor-traffic  vigorously  and 
impartially,  as  I  proposed  to  do  with  other  laws. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  made  clear  to  me  his  own 
view,  which  he  insisted  was  that  of  many  for  whom 
he  claimed  to  speak,  that  because  the  new  law  was  of 
my  particular  devising  I  could  do  with  it  as  I  pleased, 
enforce  or  ignore  it;  that  in  executing  it  I  should  be 
regarded  by  him  and  many  other  citizens,  not  as  an 
official  doing  his  duty,  and  therefore  entitled  to 
respect,  but  rather  as  an  officious  volunteer,  thus 
making  myself  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  all  upon  whom 
the  law  would  bear  directly  and  depriving  myself  of 
the  sympathy  and  support  of  good  citizens,  who,  had 
the  law  not  been  of  my  own  seeking,  might  feel 
otherwise  about  it.  He  assured  me  that  this  embar- 
rassment, which  he  tried  to  convince  me  would  be 
great,  I  might  avoid  altogether,  as  far  as  he  and  many 
others  among  the  most  influential  of  my  townsmen 
were  concerned,  by  taking  a  moderate  course. 


376  REMINISCENCES 

Thougli  we  could  not  see  tlie  matter  alike,  we 
parted  on  good  terms  personally,  wliich  were  always 
maintained.  After  that  I  would  occasionally  hear  of 
this  gentleman  as  referring  to  me  as  a  "fool  and 
fanatic,"  generally  with  the  addition,  "but  I  think 
he  is  honest  in  his  opinions." 

The  authorities  had  early  notice  that  one  wholesale 
dealer  had  refused  to  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity 
to  save  his  stock  by  shipping  it  out  of  the  state,  and 
had  repeatedly  declared  that  a  seizure  in  his  store 
would  be  at  the  peril  of  whoever  made  it.  Several 
citizens  informed  me  that  he  had  called  them  into  his 
store  and  shown  them  a  large  stock  of  liquors,  stating 
it  to  be  his  intention  to  retain  them  until  the  "flurry" 
was  over,  when  he  should  sell  them — the  new  law  and 
its  author  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Mean- 
while he  declared  that  if  any  seizure  was  made  he 
would  test  the  constitutionality  of  the  statute. 

I  directed  the  city  marshal  to  let  me  know  immedi- 
ately if  he  had  knowledge  of  any  sale  being  made  by 
that  dealer,  and  in  the  meantime  to  pay  no  attention 
to  any  threats  that  might  come  to  his  hearing.  Some 
time  not  long  after  the  passage  of  the  order  of  the  city 
council  of  June  12,  the  city  marshal  told  me  that  he 
had  information  and  proof  that  tlie  liciuor-seller  above 
mentioned  had  sold  a  quantity  of  rum.  There  had 
been  no  concealment  about  the  sale,  and  it  was  freely 
intimated  that  it  had  been  purposely  made  in  a  spirit 
of  bravado,  to  show  that  the  authorities  would  not 
dare  to  enforce  the  law,  and  the  marshal  said  he  had 
reason  to  believe  that  other  dealers  were  watching  to 
see  what  the  result  would  be. 

I  was  satisfied  that  the  time  had  come  to  act,  and 
that  any  delay  would  only  tend  to  make  the  beginning 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  377 

more  difficult.  Accordingly,  I  directed  the  marshal 
to  make  his  complaint,  apply  for  a  warrant,  and  if  he 
obtained  it  to  make  the  seizure  at  once.  Providing 
himself  with  a  warrant,  the  marshal  returned  to  me 
for  final  instructions.  These  given,  I  told  him  to 
report  to  me  as  soon  as  he  had  executed  his  orders. 

As  this  was  to  be  the  initiatory  step  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  law,  I  was  extremely  anxious  that  no 
mistake  should  be  made,  and  I  had  told  the  marshal 
to  take  three  or  four  policemen  with  him,  so  that  any 
disposition  on  the  part  of  the  proprietor  to  make 
trouble  might  be  overawed,  and  thus  all  semblance  of 
disturbance  be  prevented. 

The  citizens  of  Portland  had  been  more  or  less 
familiar  with  legal  proceedings  against  liquor-sellers. 
These,  however,  had  been  of  a  desultory,  ineffective 
sort,  in  which  neither  the  liquor-selling  respondent 
nor  the  traffic  in  general  had  suffered  much.  There 
had  been  many  expressions  of  popular  opposition  to 
liquor-selling,  and  I  had  no  doubt  but  that  the 
average  sentiment  of  the  people  was  hostile  to  the 
trade.  Nevertheless,  as  there  had  been  no  seizure  of 
liquors,  I  was  far  from  being  confident  that  there 
would  not  be  a  revulsion  of  popular  sentiment  fol- 
lowing such  a  summary  proceeding. 

After  waiting  much  longer  than  was  necessary  for 
the  reasonably  prompt  execution  of  my  orders  without 
a  report  from  the  marshal,  and  being  informed  by  a 
citizen  that  a  large  crowd  had  collected  about  the 
store  in  question,  I  walked  to  the  scene  to  learn  the 
situation.  The  store  was  located  in  one  of  the  most 
frequented  squares  in  the  city,  and,  arriving  there,  I 
found  hundreds  of  people  assembled,  drawn  together 
by  the  novelty  of  the  occurrence. 


378  REMINISCENCES 

Piisliing  my  way  tlirougli  the  crowd,  I  entered  the 
store  to  find  the  marshal  and  three  policemen,  the 
proprietor  and  three  or  four  others  whom  I  did  not 
recognize.  The  officers  had  done  nothing.  The  pro- 
prietor was  storming  about  the  store,  threatening,  in  a 
loud  voice,  vengeance  upon  any  man  who  should 
touch  his  property. 

The  officers  were  not  hesitating  from  fear  of  personal 
violence,  but  the  marshal  thought  that  in  executing  his 
orders  he  might  expose  himself  to  some  personal  legal 
liability,  and  was  deliberating  as  to  what  would 
happen  to  him  if  the  law  should  prove  to  be  unconsti- 
tutional. Ascertaining  this,  I  immediately  assured 
the  marshal  that  I  would  stand  between  him  and  all 
harm  on  that  account.  Then  turning  to  the  proprietor 
I  called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  marshal 
was  acting  simply  under  my  orders.  Upon  this,  the 
liquor-dealer,  who  had  checked  his  bluster  for  a 
moment  upon  my  arrival,  renewed  it  in  a  most  offen- 
sive way.  I  then  told  the  marshal  that  if  the  man 
made  any  more  noise  to  direct  one  of  his  officers  to 
put  him  into  a  corner  and  keep  him  there.  That 
ended  all  disturbance,  and  the  marshal  was  directed 
to  remove  the  liquors  promptly,  and  take  them  to 
the  cellar  of  the  old  City  Hall.  When  the  officers 
proceeded  to  hoist  the  contraband  goods  from  the 
basement,  some  one  cut  the  rope,  delaying  matters 
only  for  a  few  moments,  when  with  no  more  trouble, 
they  were  loaded  on  drays  and  removed. 

That  was  the  simple,  easy  initiation  of  a  new  policy 
under  which,  speaking  generally,  wherever  there  were 
competent  and  faithful  officials,  liquors  were  put  and 
kept  out  of  the  way,  and  those  who  would  have  them 
at  any  cost  were  obliged  to  search  for  them.     Assum- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  379 

ing  such  competency  and  faithfulness,  rumshops  could 
no  longer  hold  out  temptations  on  every  corner,  in 
eligible  places,  and  in  the  most  attractive  manner  to 
old  and  young  alike.  The  hard  drinker  wishing  to 
reform  could  now  easily  avoid  temptation,  if  he 
would.  The  young  and  uncontaminated  were  not 
likely  to  seek  drink  in  the  cellars,  attics,  and  other 
out-of-the-way  places,  where  what  was  left  of  the 
traffic  was  soon  to  be  concealed. 

The  liquor  seized  as  above  described  was  duly  con- 
demned under  the  law  to  be  destroyed.  The  rumseller 
appealed,  and,  to  try  the  constitutionality  of  the  law, 
brought  suit  against  me.  The  case  ran  along  for 
years,  and  was  finally  decided  against  the  claimant, 
who  had  large  costs  to  pay  in  addition  to  the  loss  of 
his  liquor. 

The  effect  of  that  first  seizure  was  marked.  It 
was  an  object  lesson  at  once  of  the  determination  of 
the  authorities  to  do  their  duty,  and  of  the  efficacy  of 
the  law.  It  was  then  apparent  to  the  most  obtuse 
dealer  that  under  the  new  law,  in  the  hands  of 
trustworthy  officers,  no  considerable  amount  of  con- 
traband liquors  could  be  kept  in  stock,  and  that  the 
wholesale  business  was  at  an  end.  So  also  was  much 
of  the  retail  trade.  Almost  immediately  after  the 
seizure,  the  principal  rumsellers  of  the  city,  the 
hotel-keepers,  and  those  who  kept  genteel  saloons, 
came  voluntarily  to  the  mayor's  office  and  entered 
into  a  written  agreement  not  to  violate  the  law,  in 
the  same  instrument  acknowledging  that  they  had 
done  so.  Thereupon  they  were  assured  that,  so  long 
as  they  observed  their  pledge,  there  would  be  no 
disposition  on  the  ])art  of  the  authorities  to  prosecute 
them  for  past  offenses. 


380  REMINISCENCES 

In  a  surprisingly  sliort  time  all  of  the  better  known 
rumsellers  of  former  days  abandoned  the  business, 
and  almost  without  exception  such  as  continued  it 
removed  from  their  former  eligible  locations  to  places 
better  adapted  for  the  conduct  of  an  illegal,  and  no 
longer  respectable,  trade.  Hence  the  open  sale  of 
liquor  entirely  ceased,  and  with  it  the  traffic  was 
shorn  of  its  most  dangerous  powers. 

There  were  persons,  it  is  true,  in  Portland,  who 
continued  to  sell  liquors  on  the  sly,  but  in  very  small 
quantities.  The  authorities  were  often  notified  of 
the  places  in  which  the  violators  of  the  law  had 
concealed  their  contraband  stocks,  and  where  they 
were  carrying  on  the  outlawed  trade.  Those  hiding- 
places  were  unknown  to  the  general  public  and 
accessible  only  to  the  initiated.  They  were  fre- 
quently to  be  reached  through  some  obscure  and 
filthy  alleyway;  sometimes  they  were  approached 
through  the  front  door  of  a  building  on  one  street, 
thence  through  that  house  to  the  back  door,  and 
across  areas  more  or  less  obstructed  with  ashes  and 
general  rubbish  to  some  shed  or  out-house  connected 
with  a  building  on  another  street.  Those  on  whom 
the  appetite  for  liquor  had  fastened  its  relentless  grii) 
would  pursue  these  devious  and  unattractive  ways  to 
obtain  the  means  to  cjuench  tlieir  unnatural  thirst. 
None,  however,  who  had  not  formed  the  appetite,  or, 
who,  having  it,  desired  to  throw  it  off,  were  exposed 
to  temptation  from  any  places  in  which  the  traffic 
lingered.  The  efi'ect  upon  the  general  quiet,  good 
order,  an<l  tlirift  of  the  city  was  marked. 

The  quantity  of  liquors  kept  in  these  places  of  de- 
posit was  very  small.  Tlie  Avliole  stock  in  some  would 
be  contained  in  a  i)int  bottle  or  two  in  the  coat  pock- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  881 

ets  of  the  vendors;  some  of  tliem  would  be  in  a  thin 
tin  vessel,  fitted  to  the  person,  and  worn  under  the 
vest.  One  of  the  places  that  I  remember  was  in  the 
brickwork  of  a  chimney,  a  small  cask  of  liquor  being 
enclosed  in  it,  a  lead  pipe  leading  out  near  the  floor; 
another  was  an  opening  under  the  step  of  chamber 
stairs,  another,  under  the  floor  of  a  pig-pen.  Some  of 
these  stocks  of  liquor  were  hidden  in  ash-pits  under 
cooking-stoves;  some  of  them  in  cellar  walls;  some 
under  chamber  floors,  the  trap  covered  by  the  carpet 
and  the  bed  placed  over  it;  some  on  shelves  in  chim- 
neys, some  in  innocent  water-conductors  in  the  eaves 
of  a  house;  some  behind  mangers  in  horse-stalls;  some 
under  stable  floors,  and  some  in  unmentionable  places. 

For  a  time  liquors  were  brought  into  the  city  by 
railroad,  by  steamer,  and  by  sailing-vessels.  They 
were  often  marked  and  sometimes  intended  for 
country  towns.  Frequently  shippers  sent  consign- 
ments to  be  divided  upon  arrival  in  Portland  and 
conveyed  in  different  directions  through  the  state. 
After  a  time  special  efforts  were  made  to  stop  this 
traffic,  as  thus  the  supply  would  be  cut  off  from  many 
retail  stores  in  country  towns.  The  city  marshal  was 
ordered  to  seize  all  such  upon  arrival. 

Such  seizures  went  on  regularly  as  a  stated  part  of 
police  duty  until  the  transportation  in  that  way  was 
nearly,  or  quite,  broken  up.  Meanwhile  efforts  were 
made  to  smuggle  liquors  into  the  city  under  various 
disguises.  These  were  usually  in  four,  eight  and  ten 
gallon  kegs,  concealed  in  flour  or  sugar  barrels  and 
packed  in  sawdust,  grain,  salt,  sugar,  oysters  in  the 
shell,  oats,  bran,  anything  which  would  prevent  the 
contraband  liquors  from  being  noticed  when  the  cask 
was   moved.      Sometimes  these  kegs  were  packed  in 


882  REMINISCENCES 

dry-goods  boxes,  and  in  large  traveling  trunks.  At 
first  officers  vrere  misled  by  these  devices,  and  liquor 
frequently  escaped  them,  but  after  a  time  they  became 
so  expert  that  they  could  generally  detect  the  trick 
on  sight,  and  almost  always  upon  a  slight  superficial 
examination. 

For  a  while  this  seizing  of  liquors  in  transitu  was 
denounced  in  unmeasured  terms  by  the  opponents  of 
the  law,  especially  by  those  directly  interested  in  the 
liquors  seized.  They  used  it  for  the  purpose  of  creat- 
ing a  prejudice  against  the  law,  and  stated  and  her- 
alded all  over  Maine  that  damage  was  done  to 
proi)erty,  actual  property,  not  liquors,  by  the  officers 
in  their  search  for  the  contraband  article.  Many 
extravagant  stories  were  told  of  this  description. 
Officers  were  represented  as  boring  with  long  augurs 
into  boxes  containing  pianos,  dry-goods,  leather,  and 
every  variety  of  merchandise  which  could  be  injured 
in  that  way.  Bogus  certificates  were  published,  in 
every  instance  but  one,  so  far  as  I  know,  over  un- 
known names,  of  damage  thus  done. 

One  statement  to  that  effect  was  signed  by  a  non- 
resident ijartner  of  a  well-known  business  house  in 
Portland.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  officers  had  bored 
with  an  augur  again  and  again  through  a  large  box 
containing  i)atent  leather,  of  course  to  the  ruination 
of  the  goods.  I  called  at  the  city  office  of  the  man- 
ufactory and  asked  one  of  the  members  of  the  firm, 
a  brother  of  the  partner  who  had  signed  the  state- 
ment, for  particulars,  j)repared  to  pay  personally  any 
damage  that  mi^ht  have  been  done. '  He  said  there 
was  not  a  word  of  truth  in  the  statement,  that  they 
had  never  liad  aii\  L'cods  daiiinirefl  by  the  officers. 

Some  time   after.  1  happened  to   be  on  a  railroad 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  383 

train  when  the  man  who  had  signed  the  certificate 
approached  me  witli  a  mutual  acquaintance,  to  be  in- 
troduced. "All!"  I  said,  "This  is  the  gentleman,  I 
believe,  whose  stock  of  leather  was  ruined  by  the 
ofliicers."  Blushing  all  over  his  expansive  face,  he 
said,  "All  things  are  fair  in  politics,  you  know,"  and 
upon  my  asking  him  if  he  really  had  any  leather 
injured,  he  replied:  "No,  I  was  mistaken  when  I 
signed  that  certificate."  Afterwards  that  man  came 
to  look  upon  the  signing  of  such  certificates  as  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  mistake,  and  became  also  an 
earnest  friend  of  mine. 

All  stories  of  that  kind  were  false,  with  no  other 
foundation  for  any  of  them  than  that  packages 
actually  containing  concealed  liquors,  but  marked  as 
enclosing  other  goods,  were  seized.  The  ofiicers  were 
specially  enjoined  in  this  particular  to  exercise  the 
greatest  care  and  to  seize  only  on  certainties.  While 
I  know  of  many  charges  made  publicly,  with  more  or 
less  particularity  as  to  details,  there  was  never  one 
coming  to  my  knowledge  with  any  foundation  what- 
ever in  fact.  Nevertheless,  these  assertions  were  so 
repeatedly  made  that  it  was  deemed  desirable  tliat  the 
city  marshal  should  state  publicly,  as  he  did,  over  his 
own  signature,  that  there  had  never  been  a  single  case 
in  which  merchandise  of  any  description  had  been 
injured  in  the  search  for  liquor.  I  regret  to  say  that 
some  of  the  papers  which  had  heralded  these  charges 
refused  to  publish  the  marshal's  denial  of  them  until 
after  the  election  they  had  been  concocted  to  affect. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enlarge  upon  the  statement 
that  more  care,  more  zeal,  more  persistency,  were 
necessary  to  produce  the  same  results  in  the  first  year 
of  the  enforcement  of  the  law  than  would  be  the 


384  KEMIXISCENCES 

case  thereafter.  It  is  also  true  that  such  enforcement 
would  be  likely  to  excite  more  opposition  to  the  law, 
and  to  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  enforce  it,  than 
after  the  seizure  and  confiscation  of  liquors  had  come 
to  be  looked  upon  as  a  matter  of  course.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  put  into  language  suitable  for  publication 
here  the  charges  and  insinuations  more  or  less  direct, 
bandied  from  mouth  to  mouth  in  those  days,  some  of 
Avhich  even  found  their  way  into  print,  against  those 
whose  duty  it  was  to  enforce  the  Maine  Law^  in  that 
first  year  of  its  existence. 

As  has  been  stated,  the  first  seizure  called  together 
a  crowd  to  witness  it  and  excited  interest  not  only 
throughout  the  state,  but  outside  of  it.  In  a  few 
weeks  there  was  no  more  of  this,  so  that  the  entrance 
of  the  officers  into  a  suspected  rum-den  to  search  it 
attracted  no  more  attention  than  w^ould  the  arrest  of 
a  pickpocket.  Only  a  curious  stranger  or  two  w^ould 
stop  to  see  the  outcome  of  the  search,  and  a  few  idle 
boys  would  collect  about  the  door. 

While  the  depots  and  steamboat  landings  were 
carefully  watched  for  liquors  intended  for  other  i)arts 
of  the  state,  the  other  phases  of  the  work  were  also 
carried  on  through  the  city.  The  searching  of 
suspected  places  was  frequent,  the  police  being  often 
aided  in  this  work  by  drinking  men  wdio  betrayed  the 
secret  hiding-places  of  the  rumsellers,  because,  as 
they  said,  they  wished  the  business  to  be  entirely 
suppressed. 

Over  a  large  portion  of  tlie  state  the  same  kind  of 
warfare  was  carried  on.  It  varied  in  energy  and 
effectiveness,  but  surely,  however  slowly,  the  coils  of 
the  law  were  winding  around  the  lifjuor-traffic  in 
Maine,   and  the  volume  of  the  trade  was  constantly 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  385 

dimiiiisliing.  When  the  law  went  into  operation 
there  were  many  country  traders  who  kept  liquors  in 
stock  much  against  their  own  views  of  propriety. 
' '  Others  do,  and  we  must, "  was  the  reason  given  for 
continuing  a  trade  they  admitted  to  be  wrong.  Such 
merchants  as  those  availed  themselves  of  the  new  law 
to  abandon  the  traffic  without  delay,  and  this  con- 
siderably reduced  the  number  of  those  engaged  in 
it.  There  were  others  who,  though  entertaining  no 
personal  scruples  as  to  the  business,  yielded  at 
once.  The  law  was  an  authoritative  and  emphatic 
expression  of  public  opinion  they  did  not  care  to 
encounter.  Their  objection  to  being  engaged  in  the 
business  so  condemned  was  strong  enough  to  lead 
them  to  abandon  it  without  regard  to  the  penalties 
awaiting  them  if  they  continued  it.  Others  preferred 
to  test  the  law.  Comparatively  few,  however,  cared 
to  experience  the  penalties  more  than  once.  As  soon 
as  they  found  the  authorities  in  earnest  they  ceased 
business. 

A  volume,  however,  would  not  suffice  to  describe 
the  various  methods  resorted  to  by  some  dealers  or 
their  agents  to  block  the  officers  in  the  discharge  of 
their  duty ;  it  would  be,  however,  but  the  old  story 
of  a  contest  between  law-officers  and  law-breakers. 
The  course  of  each  is  the  same  everywhere  and  at  all 
times,  the  latter  always  endeavoring  to  avoid  detec- 
tion and  escape  the  penalty  for  crime,  the  former,  if 
honest  and  capable,  alert  in  the  discharge  of  duty  and 
determined  to  bring  the  criminal  to  justice. 

Occasionally,  in  some  of  the  rural  districts  of  the 
state,  the  question  of  the  enforcement  or  non-enforce- 
ment of  the  law  would  be  considered  and  decided  in 
neighborhood,   corner-grocery  discussions,    in    which 


386  EEMIXISCENCES 

the  opinion  of  the  village  "squire "as  to  the  consti- 
tutionality of  the  statute  had  much  weight.  But 
wherever  there  could  be  found  three  determined 
temperance  men,  an  honest  justice  and  a  courageous 
constable  there  was  no  difficulty  in  putting  the  law 
into  operation.  In  some  outlying  districts,  familiarity 
with  the  forms  of  proceedings  under  the  law  was  not 
as  great  as  was  the  zeal  for  its  enforcement.  Some- 
times amusing  incidents  resulted,  because  the  people, 
though  generally  understanding  the  object  of  the  law, 
did  not  always  know  just  how  to  proceed  under  it. 

In  one  town  in  York  county,  not  far  from  Portland, 
liquor  had  been  seized  in  a  building  not  covered  by 
the  search  warrant.  In  this  case,  as  was  not  uncom- 
mon, the  officer  had  been  assisted  by  several  zealous 
friends  of  the  law,  young  men,  who  were  anxious  to 
destroy  the  liquor  at  once,  but  the  officers  dissuaded 
them.  When  the  time  for  the  hearing  came,  the 
owner  demanded  the  return  of  the  liquor.  The 
assistant  searchers  and  their  friends  were  on  the 
ground,  and  the  justice  court  became  a  sort  of 
informal  town-meeting.  Everybody  was  disposed  to 
be  good  natured  about  it,  but  nobody,  save  the 
claimant,  and  possibly  his  counsel,  desired  to  see  the 
liquors  given  up. 

The  owner  was  confronted  with  the  fact  that  there 
was  plenty  of  evidence  to  show  that  he  had  repeatedly 
violated  the  law,  and  that,  though  because  of  infor- 
mality, it  might  be  necessary  to  surrender  these 
lifjuors,  he  could  be  proceeded  against  in  due  time 
under  other  clauses  of  the  statute.  Finally  it  was 
arranged  that  all  proceedings  against  the  owner 
should  be  stopped  if  he  would  himself  "voluntarily  " 
knock  in  the  head  of  the  barrel.      This  at  first  he 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  387 

flatly  refused  to  do,  but  after  being  reasoned  with 
and  convinced  that  with  so  many  in  the  neighborhood 
to  watch  him  he  could  not  sell  he  took  the  ax  and 
swung  it  over  his  shoulder  preparatory  for  the  blow, 
but  his  heart  failed  him.  "  Boys,  I  cannot  do  it!  "  he 
exclaimed,  in  a  tone  almost  as  pitiful  as  if  the  barrel- 
head had  been  that  of  one  of  his  children.  But  the 
"  town-meeting  "  good-naturedly  insisted.  Again  and 
yet  again  he  essayed  to  strike,  each  time  his  heart 
failing  him.  At  last  he  asked  to  be  allowed  to  take  a 
drink  of  the  liquor  to  nerve  him  to  the  dreadful  deed. 
This  refused,  he  finally  struck  the  blow.  The  head 
was  knocked  in,  and  he  threw  down  the  ax,  protesting 
it  was  too  bad  to  waste  such  stuff  as  that.  Meanwhile 
the  "town-meeting"  stood  round  him  convulsed  with 
approving  laughter. 

In  several  cases  neighborhood  gatherings  were  held 
to  witness  the  voluntary  destruction  of  liquors  by  the 
owners,  who  had  decided  to  go  out  of  the  business, 
sometimes  on  the  tacit  understanding  that  they 
should  not  be  prosecuted  for  violations  of  the  law 
in  which  they  had  been  detected,  and  sometimes 
because,  without  any  pressure,  they  had  concluded 
to  sell  no  more. 

As  I  have  stated,  the  more  respectable  among  those 
engaged  in  the  trade  abandoned  it  without  waiting 
for  action  on  the  part  of  the  authorities.  They  did 
not  care  to  be  classed  as  law-breakers,  or  as  among 
those  who  had  no  respect  for  an  expression  of  public 
opinion  as  formulated  in  the  law,  to  the  effect  that 
their  business  was  injurious.  Others,  less  sensitive, 
abandoned  the  trade  through  fear  of  penalties.  They 
were  early  satisfied  that  in  the  long  run  they  could 
reap  no  profit  from  a  business  under  the  ban  of  such  a 


388  KEMINISCENCES 

law,  the  execution  of  which  was  in  the  hands  of 
officials  who,  having  regard  for  their  oath  of  office, 
were  determined  to  do  their  full  duty.  Others  were 
driven  out  of  it  after  suffering  once  or  twice  the  pains 
provided  for  violators  of  the  statute. 

Who  then  was  left  to  carry  on  the  trade  'i  With 
very  few  exceptions,  only  disreputable  persons  who 
Avould  shrink  from  the  violation  of  no  law  interfering 
in  any  way  with  their  wishes,  if  they  could  hope  to 
escape  the  penalties  in  such  cases  provided.  Those 
carried  it  on  generally  in  out  of  the  way  places,  in 
which  they  were  wont,  as  occasion  might  offer,  to 
violate  other  laws,  or  outrage  the  general  proprieties 
and  decencies  of  life. 

As  bearing  upon  this  point,  I  quote  a  single  extract 
of  a  multitude  that  might  be  republished,  written  by 
opponents  of  the  law.  But  one  will  suffice.  It  is 
taken  from  the  Portland  correspondence  of  a  Boston 
paper,  published  some  time  in  November,  1H53.  After 
referring  to  the  Maine  Law  as  "the  most  disagreeable 
pill  that  ever  mortal  man  was  made  to  swallow,''  it 
goes  on  to  say : 

"A  short  time  ago  a  friend  invited  me  out  to  'smile'  with 
several  others.  We  took  our  course  through  a  dirty,  muddy 
lane,  where  no  signs  of  shop,  shed,  or  shanty,  were  visible, 
and  arriving  at  a  certain  retired  spot,  our  host  gave  the  word 
to  halt.  Groping  his  way  under  a  huge  iron  ship-kettle,  half 
invci-ted,  ho  pulled  out  a  jug  which  proved  to  l)c  brandy. 
Tile  word  was  given  to  '  tire  away,'  and  each  in  rotation 
iml)ibed  from  the  aforesaid  jug,  leaving  a  goodly  supply  for 
another  '  smile.'  So  it  goes.  Every  person  desiring  a  drink 
must  get  it  in  some  such  democratic  way  as  this.  Of  course 
fancy  drinks,  such  as  sherry  cobblers,  tip  and  ties,  brandy 
smashes,  or  even  the  good  old  hot  whiskey  punches,  with  a 
port  wine  top  to  tiiem,  are  luxuries  wholly  unknown  here. 
But  enough  of  this  li(juor  law,  it  is  killing  Portland  as  dead 
as  a  h('rriML^  and  no  mistake." 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  389 

And  now  what  do  my  readers  suppose  was  the  next 
statement  of  this  correspondent  with  reference  to 
Portland,  which,  he  says,  is  being  "killed  as  dead  as  a 
herring"  by  the  liquor  law?  Here  it  is:  "  There  in  a 
great  deal  of  building  in  Portland  among  the  rich  men, 
xcho  cannot  invest  their  capital  in  any  more  advantageous 
way. " 

The  customers  drawn  to  such  places  by  such  deal- 
ers, were,  almost  without  exception,  those  upon  whom 
the  appetite  for  intoxicants  had  so  fastened  itself  that 
they  could  be  rescued  from  it  only  by  the  special  inter- 
position of  Divine  grace.  No  sensible  person  could 
fail  to  see  that  a  trade  driven  to  such  straits  and  into 
such  hands  was  not  as  dangerous  or  as  extensive  as  if 
permitted  in  eligible  localities  and  in  every  variety  of 
attractiveness  to  flaunt  its  invitations,  temptations, 
and  seductions  in  the  face  of  every  passer. 

It  is  urged,  however,  by  the  opponents  of  Prohibi- 
tion, that  the  banishment  of  the  trade  to  such  places 
and  to  such  hands  is  injurious.  It  is  under  such  con- 
ditions, they  say,  that  the  worst  phases  of  the  evil  are 
developed.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  no  evil 
which  is  condemned  as  such  by  law  is  likely  to  be 
conducted  in  the  light  of  day,  always  supposing  faith- 
fulness on  the  part  of  officials.  It  seeks  the  dark 
because  it  is  unlawful.  If  the  secrecy  in  which  a 
prohibited  act  is  performed  is  a  fatal  objection  to 
the  law  which  compels  its  concealment,  then  the 
entire  system  of  criminal  legislation  is  wrong.  What 
law  have  we  in  the  entire  criminal  code,  the  violator 
of  which  politely  approaches  officials  to  inform  them 
when  the  violation  is  about  to  begin  ? 

The  objection  is  a  specious  one.  The  very  secrecy 
in  which  a  prohibited  act  is  committed  suggests  to  all 


390  REMINISCENCES 

who  are  tempted  that  it  is  evil.  Who  will  say  that 
the  degrading,  immoral,  and  injurious  influences  of 
the  lottery  shop,  the  gambling  hell,  and  the  brothel, 
have  been  increased  in  communities  where  fear  of  the 
law  has  driven  them  from  the  public  view  ? 

It  nuist  not  be  forgotten  tliat  the  tendency  of  the 
rum  trade,  whatever  the  form  of  law,  or  in  the 
absence  of  any  law  affecting  it,  is  to  drag  its  patrons 
down.  Suppose  a  community  in  which  liquor  had 
never  been  sold,  and  in  which  there  was  not  an 
individual  who  indulged  in  the  use  of  it,  or  who  had 
had  any  desire  for  intoxicants.  Let  now  the  sale  be 
established.  Make  the  restrictions  as  rigid  as  possi- 
ble, and  let  them  be  observed  to  the  letter.  But  if 
the  business  is  to  exist,  patrons  are  sought;  young 
men  and  old,  mothers  and  maidens,  who  have  never 
drunk  before,  are  in  effect  invited  to  drink  now. 
Why  not^  The  place  where  they  are  expected  to 
begin  is  respectable,  it  is  attractive.  No  excess  has 
ever  been  committed  there,  nothing  as  yet  has  been 
witnessed  there  to  shock  the  most  refined,  because  no 
liquor  has  ever  been  sold  there  before.  Why  should 
not  all  patronize  it  ?  It  is  a  licensed  shop;  Avho  should 
advise  any  to  avoid  it  ?  The  proprietor  has  paid  his 
fee  to  the  state  for  the  privilege  of  establishing  his 
business  there.  Who  will  violate  the  implied  con- 
tract between  him  and  the  people  for  his  undisturbed 
possession  of  that  business,  by  counseling  those  who 
might  become  his  customers,  not  to  patronize  him  ? 

The  sale  begins.  Now  seeds  are  being  sown  that 
will  spring  up  into  a  baneful  growth.  Of  those  who 
become  patrons  of  such  a  respectably  conducted  shop 
a  percentage  will,  in  time,  reach  a  point  where  that 
shop,  if  it  continues  to  be  respectable,  will  no  longer 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  391 

welcome  them  as  customers,  although  they  are  of  those 
who  think  that  they  must  have  drink.  They  have 
become  the  victims  of  an  insatiable  appetite  which  it  is 
torment  to  refuse  to  feed.  Does  your  respectable  shop 
refuse  to  cater  to  these  victims  ?  It  matters  little  now. 
Their  condition  is  such  that  the  elegance  of  the  shop 
which  first  attracted  and  seduced  them  is  as  displeas- 
ing to  them  as  the  coarse  surroundings  of  the  place 
toward  which  they  are  gravitating  would  have  been 
when  they  were  first  charmed  into  the  path  to  ruin  by 
the  gilded  saloon;  and  so  they  go  on.  The  worse  the 
cravings  of  the  created  appetite,  the  lower  in  the  scale 
of  respectability  they  are  dragged,  and  the  lower  will 
be  the  resorts  in  which  they  seek  to  gratify  it. 

Let  none  imagine  that  the  permission  of  so-called 
*' respectable "  shops  will  make  disreputable  places 
less  numerous.  The  rule  is  otherwise,  and  it  is  a  rule 
holding  good  under  any  form  of  law  which  may  be 
adopted.  It  has  no  relation  or  connection  with  law. 
Select  the  worst  drunkard  to  be  found  in  the  vilest 
den  in  the  land,  and  time  was  when,  of  his  own 
accord,  he  would  not  have  gone  there  for  stimulants. 
He  commenced  higher,  if  it  be  an  ascending  scale,  in 
some  more  ' '  respectable  "  place. 

The  progressive  steps  in  the  manufacture  of  such  a 
product  may  be  easily  traced.  The  raw  material  is 
the  respectable  beginner  in  whom  the  appetite  does 
not  exist.  He  is  taken  in  with  a  great  many  others 
through  the  front  door  of  an  attractive  saloon.  The 
process  of  selection  at  once  begins.  Material  suitable 
for  the  purpose  is  passed  from  one  saloon  to  another, 
always  downward,  until  the  finished  product  is  finally 
turned  out,  the  miserable  wretch  we  selected  from 
the  back  door  of  a  low  liquor-den. 


392  REMINISCENCES   OF   NEAL   DOW. 

It  may  be  possible  to  prevent  this,  or  the  most  of  it, 
by  closing  the  place  into  which  the  raw  material  is 
drawn.  That  open,  the  lower  dens  follow  as  a  matter 
of  course;  that  closed,  and  in  time  there  will  be  no 
demand  for  the  worst  haunts.  That  open,  and  the 
lower  depths  will  certainly  be  permitted;  that  closed, 
and  soon  there  will  be  little  supply  left  for  the 
moral  and  material  (juagmires.  Stop  the  gathering  of 
raw  material,  the  young,  the  thoughtless,  the  inno- 
cent, and  after  a  while  there  will  be  no  finished 
product,  the  drunken,  the  miserable,  the  disreputable. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  results  consonant  with  this 
theory  followed  upon  the  enforcement  of  Prohibition. 
Most  of  those  who  knew  what  Maine  was  before  those 
days  have  gone  to  their  long  home.  Assuming  that  the 
average  age  necessary  for  experience  and  observation 
is  thirty  years,  only  the  few  of  us  who  have  passed 
the  allotted  age  of  man  can  bear  witness  to  the 
great  change  for  the  better,  everywhere  to  be  seen, 
resulting  from  the  faithful  application  of  the  prohibi- 
tions of  the  Maine  Law.  But  there  is  not  wanting 
evidence,  to  be  found  in  official  reports,  and  the 
recorded  statements  of  reliable  witnesses,  some  of 
which  will  be  cited  hereafter. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE      EFFECT      OF      THE       ENFOECEMENT      OF      PEOHIBITION. 
GATHERING    OPPOSITION    TO    IT.         MY     DEFEAT 
IN     THE    MUNICIPAL    ELECTION 
OF    1852. 


Within  a  comparatively  few  inontlis  after  the  enact- 
ment of  the  Maine  Law,  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
state,  including  Portland  and  most  of  the  larger 
towns,  was  practically  free  from  the  liquor-traffic. 
The  change  for  the  better,  substantially  throughout 
Maine,  was  marvelous,  apparent  not  only  in  a  decrease 
of  drunkenness  and  of  the  long  and  varied  list 
of  disturbances  which  radiate  from  a  rumshop  as 
miasma  rises  from  a  swamp,  but  in  evidences  of 
industry,  thrift,  and  material  prosperity  rewarding- 
well-directed  labor.  This  was  a  revelation  to  many, 
who,  having  given  little  thought  to  the  subject,  had 
regarded  the  prophecies  of  the  advocates  of  Prohibi- 
tion as  fanciful,  if  not  fanatical,  dreams.  To  those, 
however,  who  had  considered  the  matter,  gratifying 
as  was  the  change,  it  was  not  surprising. 

The  grave  temptations  peculiar  to  open  bar-rooms  no 
longer  existed.  What  was  left  of  the  trade  was 
secret,  obscure,  unlawful,  disreputable.  If  it  was 
true  that  some  victims  of  an  appetite,  relentless  in  its 


394  EEMINISCENCES 

once  fastened  grip,  could  yet  find  in  out-of-tlie-way 
places  that  with  which  to  gratify  their  body-destroy- 
ing and  soul-damning  thirst,  it  was,  nevertheless, 
clearly  demonstrated  that  those  not  yet  brought 
under  the  complete  c(mtrol  of  that  deadly  desire 
had  been  given  and  were  improving  a  chance  for 
reform. 

Nor  were  these  alone  benefited.  Loafing  about  the 
corner-groceries  was  discouraged  by  the  storekeepers 
lest  they  should  be  suspected  of  continuing  a  traffic 
no  longer  respectable  because  no  longer  countenanced 
by  law.  Hanging  about  where  liquor  was  surrepti- 
tiously sold  was  not  tolerated  even  by  the  illicit 
dealers,  because  the  attention  of  the  officers  would 
thus  be  attracted  to  their  law-breaking.  Those  who 
formerly  gathered  in  such  places  to  get  the  ' '  fuddle  " 
were  no  longer  drawn  thither.  Those  who  cared  less, 
or  little,  for  drink,  but  who  had  been  wont  to  spend 
time  in  them  because  others  did,  now  kept  away; 
hence  much  time  formerly  wasted  about  the  taverns, 
bar-rooms  and  corner-groceries,  where  liquor  of  all 
kinds  had  been  kept  on  tap,  was  now  employed  in 
useful  labor. 

The  time  required  to  walk  or  ride  to  the  grocery, 
which  would  average  half  a  mile  or  more  from  the 
farm,  was  now  devoted  to  seeing  what  repairs  were 
needed  to  make  the  house  or  the  barn  decent  and  com- 
fortable. There  was  a  leaking  roof,  long  neglected; 
a  broken  pane  of  glass  for  a  month  or  more  supplanted 
by  a  shingle,  or  more  often  an  old  hat;  a  dozen  clap- 
boards were  hanging  loose,  needing  a  nail  or  two 
each;  a  broken  well-swee|j  had  for  weeks  awaited 
mending;  the  fence  about  the  kitchen  garden  did  not 
protect  it  from  the  cow;  the  harness  must  have  here 


OF    NEAL    DOAV.  395 

a  strap,  there  a  buckle.  All  these  and  many  other 
easily  remedied  defects  were  now  noticed  that  were 
before  unseen. 

The  time  formerly  lounpjed  away  in  one  day  on  the 
old  stiff-back  settle  at  the  store  over  the  mug  of  grog 
or  flip  now  served  to  set  a  half  dozen  panes  of  glass,  to 
stop  a  half  score  of  leaks  in  the  roof  of  barn  or  shed, 
or  to  make  any  one  of  many  other  needed  repairs, 
while  the  money,  or  more  often  the  butter,  eggs, 
poultry,  spent  or  exchanged  for  rum  sufficed  to  buy 
the  shingles,  the  glass,  or  whatever  material  was 
necessary. 

Nor  was  this  all.  Wives  and  daughters  who  had 
hardly  dared  to  hope  for  bare  necessities  now  began 
to  look  for  genuine  comforts.  The  husband  and 
father  was  now  in  a  condition  to  see  and  appreciate 
for  himself  the  difference  between  a  shabby,  neglected, 
cheerless  home,  and  a  clean,  bright,  and  attractive  one. 
A  man  whose  time  was  given  up  to  destroying  at  the 
rumshop  all  incentives,  tastes  and  capacity  for  indus- 
try could  not  command  the  ordinary  necessities,  much 
less  the  comforts  and  legitimate  pleasures  and  luxuries 
of  life.  Happily  for  him,  poor  fellow,  following  upon 
the  loss  of  his  capacity  to  command  them  soon  came  a 
lack  of  taste  and  desire  for  them;  but  now  time  was 
given  to  industry,  and  industry  at  once  supplied 
existing  demands  and  created  other  desires  for  all 
that  would  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  family  and 
home. 

A  striking  illustration  of  the  effect  of  this  change 
was  drawn  out  by  the  opposition  to  the  law.  Some 
liquors  had  been  seized  by  the  authorities  in  Port- 
land at  a  railroad  station,  marked  and  intended  for 
delivery  in  a  country  town.      This  created  a  great 


396  KEMINISCENCES 

hullabaloo  among  the  apologists  of  the  outlawed 
trade.  Many  of  our  citizens  owned  stock  in  the 
railroad,  and  the  attempt  was  made  to  enlist  them 
against  the  law  by  insisting  that  the  road  would  be 
ruined  if  its  freighting  business  was  thus  interfered 
with.  This  was  met  by  the  publication  of  a  statement 
from  the  freight  agent  of  that  railroad,  showing  that 
the  receipts  from  freight  had  been  much  larger  since 
the  enforcement  of  the  Maine  Law  than  before.  The 
money  formerly  spent  in  the  country  towns  for  rum 
was  now  used  to  procure  the  necessaries  and  comforts 
of  life,  transported  by  the  road,  while  the  capacity 
for  production  and  consumption  was  greater  in  sober 
communities  than  in  intemperate  ones,  with  a  corre- 
sponding increase  in  the  demands  for  all  sorts  of 
merchantable  commodities. 

So  much  for  the  country  towns.  In  the  cities  and 
larger  villages  it  had  taken  longer  to  extirpate  the 
traffic,  but  there  was  only  here  and  there  a  place 
where  the  enforcement  of  the  law  was  not  sufficiently 
vigorous  to  largely  curtail  the  unlawful  trade,  to 
drive  it  into  obscure  places,  comparatively  difficult, 
and  always  inconvenient,  of  access.  The  effect  on 
general  industry  was  the  same  as  in  the  country.  It 
was  so  marked  that  men  who  had  predicted  ruin  to 
I)rosi)erity  when  trade  in  intoxicants  was  prohibited 
learned  that  business  was  immensely  benefited.  The 
money  formerly  spent  in  rum  now  procured  that 
which  created  instead  of  destroyed,  as  did  liquor, 
the  ability  to  consume  more  of  the  necessities  and 
comforts  of  life,  and  the  capacity  to  produce  more  to 
be  exchanged  for  such  increased  consumption. 

I  remember  a  statement  published  by  a  retail  wood 
dealer  in  Portland  in  the  winter  of  1851-52  after  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  397 

law  had  been  in  operation  about  nine  months.  It  was 
to  the  effect  that  the  winter  before,  as  had  been  the 
usual  custom,  he  was  troubled  by  numerous  applica- 
tions for  "four  pence  ha'penny"  (six  and  a  quarter 
cents),  and  "ninepence"  (twelve  and  a  half  cents) 
worth  of  wood,  and  often  people  would  want  to  be 
trusted  for  that  small  quantity.  This  year,  he  said, 
none  of  these  people  bought  less  than  half  a  cord  of 
wood  at  a  time  and  always  paid  when  they  got  it. 

From  all  lines  of  legitimate  business  similar  testi- 
mony, more  or  less  in  detail,  was  offered,  showing 
that  more  than  the  money  saved  from  the  groggeries 
was  flowing  through  channels  of  trade  tributary 
to  and  not  destructive  of  the  common  weal.  The 
Maine  Law,  therefore,  became  immensely  popular 
with  a  large  portion  of  the  public.  Its  friends  were 
delighted,  and  many  who  had  been  originally  its 
opponents  were  now  glad  to  be  numbered  among  its 
supporters. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected,  however,  that  the  trade 
would  give  up  its  chance  for  profit  without  a  struggle. 
It  had  long  existed  in  defiance  of  that  higher  law 
under  which  no  man  has  a  right  to  seek  to  serve 
himself  by  trampling  on  the  rights  of  others.  What 
interest,  individual  or  social,  had  not  suffered  by  it  ? 
It  was  a  drag  upon  progress,  a  blot  upon  civilization. 
Blind,  deaf,  and  indifferent,  as  it  was,  to  the  highest 
and  most  sacred  interests  of  society,  who  could 
expect  it  to  yield  to  legislative  enactment  if,  by  open 
defiance  of  law,  intrigue  and  cunning,  by  bribery  and 
corruption,  it  could  continue  to  reap  ill-gotten  gains  ? 
Opposition  to  the  law  became  vigorous,  but  because  of 
the  marked  advantage  to  the  state  materially,  as  well 
as  to  the  people  morally,  it  was  obliged  to  conceal  its 


398  REMINISCENCES 

real  animus  under  some  more  respectable  and  useful 
cloak. 

There  had  been  no  state  election  in  the  fall  of  1851, 
and  the  legislature  which  enacted  the  law  was  to 
come  together  in  January,  1852,  following  the  adop- 
tion of  Prohibition  in  June,  1851.  It  was  hardly  to  be 
supposed  that,  left  to  itself,  that  body  would  undo 
the  measure  it  had  so  recently  passed  by  a  two-thirds 
vote.  This  was  an-  advantage  to  the  friends  of  the 
law,  which  its  opponents  sought  to  undermine  by 
' '  instructions  "  from  town-meetings  in  various  repre- 
sentative districts. 

In  a  number  of  cases  town-meetings  were  regularly 
called,  in  the  expectation  that  a  popular  vote  favoring 
repeal  would  be  adopted.  I  have  the  record  of 
several  such  cases  before  me,  and  in  each  of  them  the 
vote  was  overwhelmingly  against  repeal.  I  know  of 
no  case  where  it  was  otherwise,  or  less  than  two  to  one 
—  in  several  it  was  more  than  four  to  one  —  in  favor  of 
the  law.  After  about  a  score  of  towns  had  voted 
that  way,  the  opponents  of  Prohibition  ceased  calling 
town-meetings  for  that  purpose. 

By  this  time,  also,  the  diminution  of  pauperism  and 
crime  in  the  state  was  so  great  that  most  charitable 
and  ijenal  institutions  had  by  far  fewer  inmates  than 
formerly.  Among  them  the  Kennebec  county  Jail  at 
Augusta  and  that  of  Oxford  county  were  empty  for 
the  first  time  since  their  erection. 

Evidence  in  a  great  variety  of  forms  was  abundant 
to  prove  the  salutary  effect  of  the  law  in  a  large 
portion  of  the  state,  so  much  so  that  before  the  legis- 
lature had  assembled  it  was  evident  that  no  success 
would  attend  any  effort  to  repeal  it.  By  the  time 
tlic  law-makers  had  convened  it  was  as  certain  that 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  399 

no  attempt  would  be  made  in  tliat  direction.  The 
opponents  of  the  law  preferred  to  wait  for  a  more 
convenient  season  before  attacking  it  in  that  cjuarter. 
The  legislature  had  been  in  session  but  a  few  days 
when,  on  the  19th  of  January,  Editor  Carter,  of  the 
Whig  daily  of  Portland,  a  representative  in  the  legis- 
lature, wrote  to  his  paper  from  Augusta: 

"  Both  friends  and  opponents  of  the  liquor  law  may  set 
their  hearts  at  rest  about  its  repeal  at  this  session.  It  will 
not  be  repealed ;  it  is  not  among  the  possibilities.  The  feel- 
ing in  favor  of  the  law  is  much  more  decided  and  unequivocal 
than  at  the  last  session.  One  ot  the  ablest  members  of  the 
house,  who  voted  against  it  last  spring,  told  me  a  day  or  two 
ago  that  he  regarded  the  evidence  of  its  beneficial  effects  and 
the  favor  with  which  it  is  regarded  by  a  vast  majority  of  the 
people  as  altogether  too  conclusive  and  overwhelming  to  be 
resisted.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  not  yet  heard  a  single 
member  say  a  word  in  favor  of  the  repeal,  and  the  general 
opinion  is  that  no  serious  attempt  to  repeal  it  will  be  made. 
If  there  is,  it  will  prove  a  complete  failure." 

About  the  same  date  the  Bangor  Whig  said : 

"The  law  is  found  to  be  a  practical  and  working  law,  and 
is  enthusiastically  sustained  by  public  sentiment." 

For  many  reasons  Portland  was  the  most  important 
point  involved  in  the  war  waged  by  the  people  against 
the  trade  from  which  they  had  so  long  suffered.  It 
was  the  most  populous  place  in  the  state.  At  the  time 
of  the  enactment  of  the  Maine  Law  more  capital  was 
invested  in  the  traffic  there  than  in  any  other  munici- 
pality in  Maine.  If  the  law  was  enforced  in  Portland 
there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  making  it  effective  in 
any  other  locality.  If  benefits  followed  upon  Prohi- 
bition there,  where  in  Maine  might  not  equal  good 
result  ?  The  vigorous  application  of  its  provisions  at 
that  place,  the  chief  distributing  point  in  the  state,  in 


400  KEMINISCENCES 

tlie  seizure  of  liquors  in  transitu  would  prove  of 
immense  assistance  to  the  authorities  of  many  country 
towns,  by  cutting  off  supplies  of  litiuors  that  might 
otherwise  be  clandestinely  sold  in  them.  All  those 
reasons  stimulated  the  friends  of  Prohibition  to  desire 
an  earnest  execution  of  the  law  in  Portland.  The 
realization  of  so  much  that  they  had  hoped  for  from 
the  law,  after  it  had  been  in  operation  l^ut  a  few 
months,  now  increased  their  zeal  for  its  continued 
enforcement. 

On  the  other  hand,  its  opponents  understood  that  if 
the  law  could  be  hindered,  embarrassed  and  crippled 
in  Portland  it  would  lose  prestige  and  favor  at  home 
and  abroad.  Portland  was  the  birthplace  of  the 
temperance  reform  in  Maine.  There  it  had  been 
baptized  by  the  Paysons,  the  Nicholses  and  their 
early  coadjutors  of  the  old  Sixty-Nine  society;  there 
a  devout,  self-sacrificing  clergy  had  given  it  the 
assistance  of  their  prayers,  their  sympathy,  their 
precepts  and  their  examples;  there  scores  of  its  stout- 
hearted friends  had  pushed  it  forward  over  every 
o])stacle;  there  the  able,  fearless  and  earnest  Appleton 
had  advocated  it  and  had  elucidated  the  principles  of 
Prohibition.  Portland,  in  the  language  of  Senator 
Gary,  when  the  Maine  Law  was  pending  before  the 
legislature,  was  the  hot-bed  of  "temperance  fanati- 
cism ;''  tliere  the  very  law  being  weighed  in  tlie 
balance  had  been  drawn,  and  there  the  enforcement 
of  that  measure  was  in  the  hands  of  its  author,  who, 
armed  witli  tlie  authority  i^ertaining  to  the  position  of 
mayor,  was  under  the  obligation  of  an  official  oath  to 
faithfully  and  impartially  enforce  it. 

As  the  friends  of  tlie  law  in  Portland  were  specially 
led  to  stand   l)y  it,  so  its  enemies  there  were  deter- 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  401 

mined  to  bitterly  oppose  it.  Every  method,  therefore, 
that  could  be  devised  was  resorted  to  by  them  to 
embarrass  the  authorities,  hinder  the  execution  and 
defeat  the  object  of  the  law.  I  am  confident  that  I 
am  justified  in  saying  that  there  has  never  been  a  day 
in  Portland  since  that  first  nine  months  of  its  exist- 
ence, when  the  enforcement  of  Prohibition  would  not 
have  been  easier  than  at  that  time. 

A  battle  royal  was  soon  to  be  fought  there  at  the 
charter  election  to  be  held  in  April,  1852,  about 
nine  months  after  the  law  had  been  put  into  opera- 
tion. Both  friends  and  opponents  were  preparing  for 
the  contest  in  Portland  when  the  legislature  came 
together  in  Augusta.  On  the  15th  of  January,  1852, 
as  mayor,  I  sent  to  the  city  council  the  following 
communication : 

"  The  Act  for  the  Suppression  of  Drinking  Houses  and 
Tippling  Shops,  passed  at  the  last  session  of  the  legislature, 
has  now  been  liut  about  six  months  in  full  operation  in  this 
city,  and  I  think  it  proper  to  lay  before  the  city  council  a 
statement  of  its  results.  There  has  been  no  act  of  any  state 
legislature  which  has  attracted  so  much  of  the  attention  of  the 
people  of  New  England  and  the  whole  country  as  this  be- 
cause it  is  well  understood  that  the  operation  of  it  upon  the 
various  interests  of  the  state  must  be  in  the  highest  degree 
salutary,  and  it  was  the  first  effectual  legislative  measure  in  a 
line  of  policy  which  there  is  reason  to  suppose  will  be  speed- 
ily followed  by  many,  and  eventually  by  all  our  sister  states. 

"  For  many  years  it  has  been  well  established  that  the 
tralEc  in  intoxicating  drinks  has  been  the  cause  of  a  large 
amount  of  poverty,  pauperism,  suffering  and  crime ;  and 
Maine  has  undertaken,  by  the  enactment  of  this  law,  to  free 
herself  from  so  much  of  these  evils  as  flow  from  that  source. 
From  the  first,  the  prompt  and  energetic  execution  of  the  law 
in  this  city  was  submitted  to  cheerfully  and  quicth^ ;  the 
wholesale  dealers  in  spirits  promptly  abandoned  the  l)usiness, 
which  it  was  impossible  to  carry  on  a  single  day  under  this 
law ;  and  all  those  retail  dealers  who  had  any  self-respect 
pursued  the  same  course,  without  waiting  for  the  execution  of 


402  EEMINISCENCES 

a  statute  which  regards  and  treats  the  keeper  of  a  grog-shop 
as  a  criminal  of  the  lowest  grade.  The  few  persons  who  con- 
tinued to  sell  intoxicating  liquors  after  the  enactment  of  this 
law  did  so  secretly ;  the  sales  were  on  a  very  limited  scale, 
and  princii)ally  to  foreigners,  and  to  such  as  could  be  trusted 
not  to  betray  the  vendors  to  the  authorities.  Many  persons 
who  were  habitually  intemperate  abandoned  the  use  of  strong 
drinks,  at  first  from  the  difficulty  of  procuring  them  —  and 
afterwards  they  were  fully  sensible  that  they  and  their  fami- 
lies wore  nuich  better  without  them.  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  the  law  is  every  day  becoming  more  firmly  fixed  in  the 
favorable  regard  of  the  people  of  this  city  and  state,  and  I 
am  confident  that  no  retrograde  step  will  be  taken  here  in 
relation  to  this  subject. 

"  The  salutary  effects  of  this  law  are  more  immediately  seen 
in  all  those  de})artments  of  our  affairs  which  fall  under  the 
care  of  the  police,  and  the  returns  of  commitments  to  the 
watch-house  and  house  of  correction  will  show  something 
of  the  difference  in  this  department  between  the  present 
and  past  years,  but  these  returns  will  not  exhibit  the  actual 
difference,  l^ecause  the  police  and  watch  during  the  present 
year  have  been  more  strict  than  they  formerly  were  in  ar- 
resting persons  found  in  a  state  of  intoxication.  Our  streets 
are  now  so  much  more  quiet,  particularly  at  night,  than  they 
were  the  last  year,  or  any  year  before,  that  the  difference  can- 
not l)e  understood  very  clearly,  except  by  those  connected 
with  the  night  police  and  watch. 

"This  is  attested  by  the  city  marshal,  the  captain  of  the 
watch,  and  by  Mr.  Curtis  Meserve,  a  bank  watch-man,  who 
is  in  the  streets  every  night,  and  in  those  parts  of  the  city 
where  disturl)ances  would  be  most  likely  to  occur,  and  he 
speaks  strongly  of  the  great  improvement  in  this  respect ; 
street  disturbances  of  any  kind  no  longer  occur  in  the  city. 
Fore  street,  from  Union  to  Center  street,  frequently  required 
during  the  last  year,  the  services  of  four  policemen  —  particu- 
larly on  Saturday  and  Sunday  nights  —  and  they  were  often 
too  few,  but  now  that  locality  is  as  quiet  at  all  times  as  any 
other  part  of  the  city,  and  receives  no  extra  attendance  from 
the  police. 

"The  number  of  ])ersons  who  continue  to  sell  strong  drinks 
in  the  city  is  now  very  small,  tliey  are  almost  all  foreigners, 
and  soil  with  gix-at  secrecy  and  caution  ;  an  oj)en  rumshop  or 
bar  of  any  kind  is  entirely  unknown;  a  barrel,  keg  or  other 
vessel  of  liquors  is  not  to  be  seen  in  the  city  at  all,  except  at 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  403 

the  city  agency  ;  the  law  has  executed  its  mission  with  more 
ease,  certainty  and  dispatch,  than  was  anticipated  by  its  most 
ardent  friends  —  it  lias  been  most  triumphantly  successful. 

"  I  think  it  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  quantity 
of  intoxicating  liquors  now  sold  in  this  city,  except  by  the 
city  agent,  is  not  one-fifteenth  part  so  great  as  it  was  seven 
months  ago,  and  the  salutary  effects  of  this  great  improve- 
ment are  apparent  among  the  people  in  all  parts  of  the  city. 
The  amount  of  liquors  consumed  in  the  state  I  think  is  not 
one-quarter  so  great  as  it  was  seven  months  ago,  and  it  will 
become  less  very  rapidly,  as  the  people  in  the  country  towns 
are  now  enforcing  the  law  more  extensively  and  vigorously 
every  day  ;  from  many  towns  in  the  state  the  illegal  traiiic  is 
entirely  banished.  I  have  now  adopted  a  regular  system  by 
wdiich  the  power  of  the  law  to  exclude  intoxicating  liquors 
from  the  city  except  for  lawful  purposes  is  to  be  fully  tested, 

"  The  master  of  the  almshouse  has  submitted  to  me  the 
following  returns,  which  show  the  eflect  of  the  law  upon  that 
establishment:  Admitted  into  the  almshouse  from  January 
1  to  December  31,  1850,  290.  Number  admitted  to  the 
house  from  January  1  to  December  30,  1851,  was  262 ; 
average  number  through  the  year  1851  was  106.  Number  of 
families  assisted  out  of  the  house  from  June  1  to  December 
31,  1850,  was  60 ;  average  number  through  the  year  1851  was 
96.  Number  of  families  assisted  out  of  the  house  from  June 
1  to  December  30,  1851,  was  40.  Number  in  the  house 
December,  1850,  was  107.  Number  in  the  house  December, 
1851,  was  86.  Number  committed  to  the  house  of  correction 
for  drunkenness  from  June  1  to  December  1,  1850  —  6 
months  —  was  40.  Number  committed  from  January  1  to 
May  31,  1851  —  5  months — was  34;  from  June  1,  (the  law 
was  approved  June  2)  to  October  16,  was  8  ;  from  October 
16  to  December  31,  none.  From  June  1  to  December  31, 
—  7  months  —  8.      The  house  of  correction  is  now  empty. 

"The  master  of  the  almshouse  adds  that  he  formerly  had 
great  trouble  from  paupers  out  at  work,  or  on  leave,  who 
would  return  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  which  was  an  every- 
day occurrence  —  but  for  months  past  he  has  not  had  a  case 
of  this  kind,  and  on  the  day  of  the  cattle-show  he  let  them  all 
out  on  leave,  and  all  returned  perfectly  sober. 

"  The  number  of  commitments  to  the  jail  of  this  county  for 
drunkenness,  assault  and  larceny,  from  June  1  to  December 
31,  1850,  was  192 — for  the  same  months  of  1851  the  number 
was  89,  and  for  these  months  of  1851  there  were  58  liquor- 


404  REMINISCENCES 

sellers  imprisoned,  while  in  1850  there  were  none.  The  law 
was  in  operation  here  ]iretty  well  by  the  first  of  August,  1851, 
and  from  tliat  time  to  December  31st  there  were  nine  commit- 
ments for  larceny,  and  for  the  corresponding  months  of  1850 
there  were  16  commitments  for  that  offense. 

"  The  whole  number  of  convictions  before  our  municipal 
court  under  this  law  for  selling  intoxicating  liquors  has  been 
101,  and  the  amount  of  fines  imposed  for  that  offense  is 
$1,310;  amount  of  fines  for  keeping  liquors,  $360;  amount 
of  costs  in  cases  of  selling  and  keeping,  $373.35;  whole 
amount  of  fines  and  costs,  $2,043.35. 

"  The  whole  number  of  seizures  of  intoxicating  liquors  has 
been  about  fifty  —  and  the  market  value  of  the  liquors  seized 
has  not  been  far  from  five  thousand  dollars. 

"  There  were  committed  to  the  watch-house  from  June  1 
to  December  31,  1850,  332  persons;  in  the  corresponding 
months  of  1851,  152  persons;  in  October,  November  and 
December,  1850,  respectively,  43,  44  and  48  —  135  ;  in 
the  same  months  of  1851,  21,  23  and  11 — 55.  This  state- 
ment does  not  show  the  actual  difference  in  the  commitments 
of  the  two  periods  of  1850  and  1851,  because  in  the  former 
year  the  practice  of  the  police  and  watch  was  to  allow  all 
intoxicated  persons  who  were  quiet  to  get  home  if  they  were 
able  to  accomplish  it,  and  often  such  persons  were  aided  by 
the  watch  ;  but  during  the  corresponding  periods  of  this  year 
the  orders  to  the  police  and  Avatch  were  to  arrest  and  commit 
to  the  watch-house  all  persons  who  were  manifestly  under  the 
influence  of  liquor,  and  the  application  of  the  same  rule  to  the 
corresponding  period  of  1850  would  have  doubled  th^  num- 
ber of  commitments.  At  least  nine-tenths  of  the  persons 
committed  to  the  watch-house  for  the  last  six  months  were 
foreigners,  who  obtained  the  means  of  intoxication  from  low 
shoj)S  or  cellars,  kept  with  great  secrecy  b}^  their  countrymen. 

•'  I  have  notes  received  from  Mr.  Mitchell,  city  missionary, 
and  from  Mr.  Hadley,  minister  at  large,  whose  duties  call 
them  exclusively  to  visit  the  poorer  part  of  our  population. 
Mr.  Mitchell  has  been  city  missionary  for  many  years,  and 
has  had  under  his  supervision  from  six  hundred  and  fifty  to 
seven  Imndred  families,  and  he  adds  that  not  one-twentieth  of 
intem])erate  drinking  can  now  be  found  that  existed  when  the 
'  Maine  Law  '  went  into  eflect.  Tn  his  constant  walks  about 
the  city  he  does  not  meet  one  intoxicated  person  a  day  ;  and 
he  does  not  recollect  more  than  five  or  six  cases  for  the  last 
six  months  of  complaints  of  wives  that  their  husbands  drink 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  405 

too  much  ;  in  many  inveterate  cases  which  he  knows  where 
both  husband  and  wife  drank  to  excess  they  are  entirely 
reformed  through  the  efiect  of  the  law,  and  are  living  happily 
together. 

"Mr.  Hadley  says  that  his  intercourse  is  chiefly  with  the 
poorest  part  of  the  population,  who  are  out  of  the  almshouse, 
and  especially  with  the  intemperate.  For  the  quarter  just 
ended,  compared  with  the  corresponding  period  ending 
Deceml)er  31,  1850,  the  calls  made  upon  him  for  assistance 
have  been  less  than  one-seventh,  and  the  cases  where  relief 
was  actually  aftbrded  were  just  one-sixth  as  many  as  they 
were  during  the  same  months  of  1850,  and  the  amount  given 
in  the  three  months  of  1851  was  $1  to  $5.37^  given  in  the 
corresponding  period  of  1850  ;  these  results  he  obtains  from  a 
careful  examination  of  his  books,  and  attributes  the  diflference 
entirely  to  the  favorable  operation  of  this  law  upon  the  habits 
and  domestic  economy  of  the  people. 

"  These  statements  collected  from  various  sources,  all  point- 
ing significantly  in  one  direction,  cannot  fail  to  satisfy  the 
most  casual  observer  that  the  operation  of  the  '  Maine  Law,' 
if  steadily  enforced,  will  sweep  away  a  large  proportion  of  the 
poverty,  pauperism,  crime  and  suffering  Avith  which  we  have 
been  afflicted,  the  result  of  the  traffic  in  strong  drink.  I  con- 
sider the  success  of  this  law  of  the  highest  importance  to  the 
interests  of  the  city,  and  to  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
the  people  —  and  I  have  not  hesitated  to  exert,  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  object,  all  the  power  conferred  upon  me  by 
the  city  charter  and  the  city  council. 

"  It  seemed  to  me  to  be  necessary  to  pursue  such  a  course, 
because  the  bill  was  drawn  and  passed  under  circumstances  so 
peculiar  that  the  people  of  the  state  turned  their  eyes  to  this 
city  with  common  consent,  to  observe  the  manner  in  which  it 
should  be  executed  here.  The  law  is  so  stringent  in  its  pro- 
visions, and  summary  in  its  processes,  that  many  persons 
supposed  some  difficulty  might  be  found  in  executing  it,  and 
a  firm  and  energetic  enforcement  of  it  in  this  city  was  neces- 
sary to  encourage  other  towns  and  cities  in  the  state  to  do 
the  same  thing,  and  to  demonstrate  to  the  people  of  this 
state  and  of  other  states  that  such  a  law  would  he  effectual 
in  extinguishing  the  traffic,  in  intoxicating  liquors,  which  all 
acknowledge  to  be  an  unmitigated  curse  in  every  community 
in  which  it  is  tolerated. 

"On  the  12th  of  June  the  council  passed  the  following 
order  —  to  wit- 

27 


406  REMINISCENCES 

'Ordered,  That  to  give  full  force  and  effect  to  the  Act  for 
the  Suppression  of  Drinking  Houses  and  Tippling  Shops 
recently  enacted,  and  to  procure  the  full  benefits  thereof  to 
the  city  as  speedily  as  possible,  the  mayor  l)e,  and  he 
is  herel)y  authorized  to  draw  his  orders  on  the  treasurer,  from 
time  to^  time,  and  for  such  sums  as  he  may  judge  necessary 
and  proper,  to  secure  the  prompt  enforcement  of  said  law.' 

"If  the  suppression  of  all  our  grog-shops  could  have  been 
effected  at  a  cost  to  the  treasury  of  some  thousands  of  dollars, 
it  would  be  regarded  as  a  good  financial  operation  ;  but  I 
have  made  it  a  point  in  carrying  on  the  warfare  against  the 
illegal  traffic  in  rum  to  compel  the  enemy  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  campaign ;  so  far,  I  have  succeeded  in  accomplish- 
ino-  this  object,  and  I  am  confident  that  at  the  end  of  this 
municipal  year  I  shall  he  able  to  report  to  the  city  council  that 
this  traffic  is  entirely  extinguished,  and  that  the  city  has  not 
paid  a  dollar  of  the  cost." 

The  statements  contained  in  that  communication 
were  entitled  to  all  the  weight  and  confidence 
which  pertained  to  official  declarations  made  under 
the  obligations  and  responsibilities  of  public  positions. 
They  were  never  denied  nor  questioned.  Later,  on 
the  25th  of  March,  in  an  annual  report  to  the  city 
council,  after  referring  to  the  general  condition  of 
the  city  business,  I  said : 

"In  my  message  to  the  city  council  at  the  conmiencemcnt 
of  the  year,  I  took  occasion  to  speak  of  the  almshouse  estab- 
lishment as  altogether  inadequate  to  the  wants  of  the  city, 
and  as  being  so  badly  arranged  as  to  afford  imperfect 
accommodation  to  its  inmates,  who  could  not  be  classified 
and  separated,  as  their  comfort  and  proper  discipline  required. 
Our  citizens  have  for  several  years  been  justly  dissatisfied 
with  that  establishment;  and  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  the 
board  of  overseers  were  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  a  new 
almshouse,  and  a  purchase  of  land  was  made  with  reference  to 
it,  and  some  preliminary  steps  were  taken  in  that  direction. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  year  I  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  construction  of  a  new  almshouse  establishment,  to 
cost  at  least  lifty  thousand  dollars,  would  be  indis})cnsable  to 
the    comfort    and    pi'oper    acconnnodation    of    our    numerous 


or    NEAL    DOW.  407 

paupers,  who  were  increasing  upon  us  from  year  to  year,  if 
the  cause  of  pauperism,  to  wit :  the  traffic  in  intoxicatino; 
drinks,  should  be  permitted  to  exist  among  us.  Since  that 
time  our  legislature  has  enacted  a  stringent  and  effective  law 
upon  this  subject,  which  in  the  nine  months  of  its  existence 
has  almost  entirely  annihilated  the  traffic  in  this  city,  and 
generally  throughout  the  state  ;  and  the  effect  of  this  is  very 
striking  already  in  diminishing  the  number  of  inmates  in  the 
almshouse ;  and  the  general  suffering  throughout  the  city 
from  want,  although  the  winter  was  unusually  severe,  has 
])een  much  less  than  usual,  and  if  the  present  course  of  policy 
shall  be  steadily  persevered  in  our  almshouse  will  probably 
afford  abundant  and  comfortable  accommodation  for  all  its 
inmates  until  the  city  shall  be  three  or  four  times  as  populous 
as  it  now  is.  At  the  commencement  of  the  year  the  number 
of  open  rumshops  of  all  grades  in  full  operation  was  supposed 
to  be  from  three  hundred  to  four  hundred,  as  estimated  by 
those  who  were  best  able  to  judge.  Three  hundred  was  the 
lowest  estimate.  At  present  there  is  not  one.  The  receipts 
at  each  of  these  places  per  day,  at  the  lowest  figure,  may  be 
reckoned  to  average  three  dollars ;  this  for  three  hundred 
days  —  and  Sundays  were  the  best  days  for  such  places  — 
would  give  $270,000  per  year.  It  may  be  thought  that  this 
sum  is  much  too  large  to  have  been  expended  annually  by  the 
people  of  this  city  for  intoxicating  drinks,  but  it  is  believed 
that  the  number  of  grog-shops,  set  down  at  three  hundred, 
and  the  sum  received  by  each  per  day,  at  three  dollars,  is 
within  the  fact.  But  if  we  consider  the  expenditure  in  this 
way  to  have  been  only  $200,000,  or  about  $2.22  per  day  for 
each  of  the  three  hundred  shops,  the  fact  will  be  sufficiently 
important  to  arrest  the  attention  of  every  man  who  has  any 
regard  for  the  prosperity  of  the  city  and  the  welfare  of  the 
citizens. 

"The  whole  of  this  sum,  or  of  whatever  sum  may  have 
been  expended  in  this  way,  was  entirely  lost  to  the  city;  no 
valuable  return  was  obtained  from  it.  This  amount  will 
purchase  forty  thousand  barrels  of  flour  at  five  dollars  each, 
or  about  five  barrels  of  flour  and  five  cords  of  wood  to  every 
family  in  the  city,  estimating  the  number  of  families  at  four 
thousand.  It  is  true  that  some  persons  accumulated  wealth 
by  the  traffic,  but  it  was  not  by  paying  a  fair  equivalent,  or 
any  equivalent  for  property  so  gained ;  but  the  process  was 
simply  the  transferring  the  hard  earnings  of  the  laboring  man 
to  the  coflers  of  the  dealer  in  spirits  —  while  the  victims  of 


408  REMINISCENCES 

their  trade  were  sent  to  their  desolate  homes  to  abuse  wivea 
and  children  who  were  suffering  for  the  common  necessaries 
of  life,  which  might  have  been  purchased  with  the  money 
squandered  on  strong  drinks.  And  while  this  traffic  con- 
tinued the  persons  by  whom  it  was  sustained  were  growing 
poorer  and  more  miserable  and  degraded  every  year,  and 
worse  members  of  society. 

"  A  great  many  families  in  this  city  situated  thus  a  year 
since  are  now  comfortable  and  happy,  being  entirely  relieved 
by  the  suppression  of  the  grog-shops  from  their  former 
troubles. 

"The  extinguishment  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks 
will  not  only  be  the  means  of  saving  this  great  amount  of 
money  to  the  poorer  part  of  the  people,  but  the  productive 
industry  of  the  country  will  be  stimulated  to  an  extent  that 
we  cannot  at  present  foresee.  All  this  sum  which  was  form- 
erly expended  for  strong  drinks  by  the  people  of  this  city  and 
state  will  henceforth  be  expended  for  the  necessaries  and 
comforts  of  life,  with  the  additional  amount  which  will  accrue 
from  the  more  industrious  habits  of  the  people,  and  these  in- 
creased quantities  of  merchandise  and  products  of  improved 
habits  of  industry  will  give  additional  revenue  to  all  classes 
of  common  carriers  —  the  arrest  of  every  barrel  of  rum  which 
is  stopped  in  its  transit  to  the  consumer  will  save  an  amount 
of  money  to  the  people  which  will  be  expended  for  many  bar- 
rels of  other  merchandise,  or  their  equivalent  in  bulk,  which  in 
their  journey  to  the  consumer  will  follow  precisely  the  same 
channels  of  transit  which  would  have  been  taken  by  the 
strong  drink.  Every  legitimate  branch  of  trade,  of  industry 
and  investment,  is  deeply  interested  in  a  pecuniary  way  in 
the  suppression  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors.  The 
people  may  not  see  this  now,  but  the  results  are  as  certain  as 
any  other  law  of  trade  or  of  nature. 

"  I  have  received  from  the  master  of  the  almshouse  and 
house  of  correction  return  of  commitments  from  June  1, 
18/31,  to  ]\Iarch  2,  li^52,  and  for  the  corresponding  period  of 
the  preceding  year,  as  follows  : 

"Committed  to  the  almshouse  from  June  1,  1850,  to 
March  20,  1851,  252;  committed  from  June  1,  1851,  to 
March  20,  1H52,  14G  ;  numl)er  in  the  almshouse  March  20, 
1851,  112;  number  in  tiie  almshouse  March  20,  1852,  90. 
Numl)er  of  families  assisted  out  of  the  almshouse  from  June 
1,  1850,  to  March  20,  1851,  135;  from  June  1,  1851,  to 
March  20,  1852,  HO.     Sevent3--five  of  the  DO  now  in  the  alms- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  409 

house  came  there  through  intemperance  ;  four  of  the  90  were 
not  brought  there  through  that  cause ;  the  history  of  the 
remaining  eleven  is  not  known. 

"Committed  to  the  house  of  correction  for  intemperance 
from  June  1,  1850,  to  March  20,  1851,  4G ;  for  larcen}^,  etc., 
12.  Committed  from  June  1,  1851,  to  March  20,  1852,  for 
intemperance,  10;  for  larceny,  etc.,  3.  Committed  in  April, 
1851,  9  ;  committed  in  May,  1851,  10. 

"The  Maine  Law  was  enacted  June  2,  1851,  and  from 
the  first  of  that  month  to  March  20,  1852,  ten  months,  the 
number  committed  was  10.  At  tlie  term  of  the  District  Court 
in  this  city  March,  1852,  but  one  indictment  was  found 
for  larceny,  and  that  is  supposed  to  be  the  result  of  mis- 
take, while  at  the  March  term,  1851,  there  Ave  re  seventeen 
indictments  found.  These  results  have  been  obtained, 
notwithstanding  an  increased  vigilance  in  arresting  persons 
found  under  the  influence  of  strong  drinks.  Of  the  ninety 
persons  now  in  the  almshouse,  forty-nine  are  foreigners,  and 
forty-one  natives.  Not  more  than  one-eighth  of  our  popula- 
tion is  foreign,  while  the  few  secret  grog-shops  which  remain 
in  the  city  are  almost  entirely  among  that  class  of  people. 

"There  were  committed  to  the  jail  for  drunkenness, 
larceny,  etc.,  from  June  1,  1850,  to  and  including  March, 
1851,  279;  for  the  corresponding  period  of  1851-52,  135; 
deduct  liquor-sellers  imprisoned  in  the  latter  period,  72,  and 
we  have  63  for  drunkenness,  larceny,  etc.,  against  279  for  the 
corresponding  period  before  the  enactment  of  the  liquor  law. 

"  There  Avere  in  jail  on  the  20th  of  March,  1851,  twenty- 
five  persons  —  on  the  20th  of  March,  1852,  seven  persons, 
three  of  whom  are  liquor-sellers  ;  Avithout  them  the  number 
would  be  four  against  twenty-five  of  the  corresponding  day  of 
1851. 

"I  learn  that  for  several  years  past  the  county  commis- 
sioners have  been  considering  the  necessity  of  erecting  a  new 
jail  to  accommodate  the  numerous  prisoners,  but  if  the 
present  liquor  law  remains  upon  the  statute-book,  and  is 
vigorously  enforced,  the  present  jail  will  afford  ample  room 
for  all  who  will  be  committed  to  it,  until  our  population  shall 
amount  to  75,000  or  80,000.  From  present  indications,  the 
ofiice  of  jail-keeper  in  this  state  will  not  henceforth  be  very 
eagerly  sought  after,  as  its  emoluments  depend  upon  the 
number  of  persons  imprisoned. 

"  There  were  committed  to  the  watch-house  from  June  1, 
1850,  to  and  including  March,  1851,  431  persons.     For  the 


410  REMINISCENCES 

corresponding  period  of  1851-52,  the  number  was  180,  not- 
withstanding the  increased  vigilance  of  the  police  in  the  latter 
term  to  arrest  intemperate  persons  found  in  a  state  of 
intoxication. 

"The  number  of  convictions  under  the  liquor  law  in  Jan- 
uary was  twenty -three,  in  February,  two,  in  ]March,  six. 
The  liquor-shops  arc  now  so  few  and  secret  that  it  is  difficult 
to  obtain  proof  against  any. 

"By  order  of  the  city  council,  I  was  authorized  to  draw 
on  the  treasurer  from  time  to  time,  for  such  sums  as  I  should 
judge  necessary  to  secure  the  prompt  enforcement  of  the  'Maine 
Law,'  so  called  ;  but  the  receipts  from  fines  under  that  law% 
have  been  considerably  greater  than  all  the  expenses  incurred 
in  the  prosecutions,  by  an  amount  between  $500  and  $600. 

"  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  report  the  illegal  traffic  in 
intoxicating  drinks  to  be  entirely  expelled  from  the  city ; 
such,  however,  is  not  the  fact.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
present  municipal  year,  a  great  number  of  open  rumshops 
were  in  existence  in  all  parts  of  the  city ;  temptations  to  the 
young  and  inexperienced,  as  well  as  to  those  with  depraved 
appetites  confirmed,  were  spread  out  at  every  corner ;  at  the 
present  time,  not  one  such  place  is  in  existence  among  us; 
the  temptation  to  drink  is  entirely  withdrawn,  and  depraved 
appetite  for  intoxicating  liquors  can  now  be  gratified  with 
difficulty  —  and  only  in  dark  and  concealed  places  known  only 
to  a  few,  and  which  are  kept  only  by  persons  of  the  lowest 
and  most  abject  character. 

"The  efiect  of  the  law,  and  of  the  administration  of  it,  has 
been,  within  the  ten  months  of  its  existence,  not  only  to 
accomplish  this,  and  very  much  to  reduce  poverty,  pauperism 
and  crime,  but  also  to  render  the  hal)it  of  using  strong  drinks 
disreputable  amor'g  all  classes  of  society. 

"  The  example  of  Maine  has  caused  a  general  movement 
throughout  all  the  free  states  against  the  traffic  in  strong 
drinks  ;  and  if  our  people  shall  maintain  their  position,  as  I 
think  they  will,  I  am  confident  our  exanq)le  will  be  followed 
by  all  New  Kngland,  and  l)y  many  others  of  our  sister  states, 
within  five  years. 

"  I  have  written  to  Kev.  Mr.  Iladley,  minister  at  large,  and 
to  Rev.  Mr.  Mitchell,  city  missionary,  requesting  statements 
of  the  effect  of  the  liquor  law  u})on  the  poor  under  their  care 
and  observation ;  and  I  submit  the  reply  of  ^Nlr.  Hadley 
entire,  as  it  cannot  well  l)e  abbreviated,  and  I  consider  it  very 
imi)oiiant-,  from  Mr.  Mitchell  I  have  received  no  reply." 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  411 

"  Office  of  the  Ministry  at  Large,  ) 
Portland,  March  23,  1852.  5 

Hon.  Neal  Doav  : 

Dear  Sir: — I  embrace  the  earliest  opportunity  to  answer 
your  note  of  the  18th  inst.,  in  which  you  request  me  '  to 
furnish  some  statements  concerning  the  effects  of  the  Maine 
Liquor  Law  upon  the  poor — their  sufferings,  intemperance, 
need  of  charity,'  etc. 

"  I  answered  a  similar  request  from  Rev.  T.  W.  Higginson, 
of  Newburyport,  Mass.,  on  the  10th  of  this  month,  and  as  my 
letter  to  him  has  been  published,  I  would  refer  you  to  that  as 
partly  answering  your  request,  I  might  add  many  facts  as 
supplementary  to  the  letter  above  referred  to,  without  repeti- 
tion ;  but  for  certain  reasons  I  prefer  to  make  some  extracts 
from  my  periodical  reports  which  have  been  presented  from 
time  to  time  to  the  trustees  of  this  ministry,  and  approved  by 
them,  —  even  at  the  risk  of  repeating  much  which  I  have 
already  uttered  in  the  letter  to  Mr.  Higginson.  My  journal 
abounds  in  details  of  individual  cases  illustratino;  the  terrible 
effects  of  mtemperance  among  the  poor  of  this  city,  but  I 
shall  not  find  room  within  the  proposed  limits  of  this  com- 
munication to  transcribe  any  of  these,  but  must  confine  myself 
to  the  more  general  statement  of  facts,  from  which  you  may 
draw  your  own  inferences 

"I  often  have  serious  misgivings  about  uttering  the  whole 
truth  concerning  the  effects  of  intemperance  and  the  extent  of 
its  fearful  ravages,  as  I  witness  them,  feeling  that  in  doing  so 
I  am  very  liable  to  be  disbelieved  by  multitudes,  who, 
though  intelligent  on  most  subjects  of  common  investigation, 
really  know  less  of  the  true  condition  of  vast  numbers  of  the 
poor  victims  of  this  vice  in  their  midst  than  the  most  distant 
tribes  of  the  earth. 

"  From  my  first  Annual  Eeport,  rendered  April  2,  1850,  I 
make  the  following  extracts  : 

'  The  great  mass  of  squalid  poverty  which  we  witness  is 
the  effect  of  idleness,  prodigality  and  intemperance.  This 
last  named  evil  is  the  great  and  terrible  scour2:e  wdiich  atilicts 
our  conmiunity,  and  produces  more  poverty  and  misery  than 
all  other  causes  combined. 

'  It  would  take  fifty  pages  like  this  to  contain  a  compre- 
hensive narration  of  my  experience  of  the  terrible  ravages  of 

intemperance  in    this  city Could   all    the    sober   and 

benevolent  persons  in  this  city  see  the  effects  of  this  plague 


412  REMIXISCEXCES 

as  they  really  exist,  there  would  be  one  general  uprising  and 
concentration  of  effort,  and  no  labor,  self-denial  or  cost 
would  1)0  deemed  too  great  to  check  its  progress.  I  leave 
much  of  the  darker  part  of  my  experience  and  observation  in 
the  shade.' 

(From  My  Quarterly  Keport,  October  1,  1850.) 
'  I  have  made  directly  to  the  poor  and  in  their  behalf 
about  six  hundred  calls,  and  rendered  assistance  in  some  form 
in  more  than  one  hundred  instances  during  the  last  quarter, 
besides  the  clothing  that  has  been  given  to  children.  The 
calls  made  upon  me  for  assistance  have  been  almost  number- 
less, and  the  demand  almost  without  limit.  I  have  been 
accustomed  to  investigate  the  condition  and  circumstances 
of  the  i)Oor  under  my  notice  as  thoroughly  as  possible,  seek- 
ing to  understand  the  causes  of  their  poverty,  and  endeavoring 
to  lind  out  and  apply  the  remedy ;  and  I  am  fully  convinced 
that  intemperance  is  the  fruitful  source  of  almost  all  the  evils 
and  sufferings  among  the  poor  of  my  charge.' 

(From  My  Quarterly  Keport,  January  1,  1851.) 
'  On   secular  days  I  have    scarcely    been  able,  during  the 
last  (juarter,  to  take  a  single  meal  in  a  day  without  the  inter- 
ruption of  calls,  and  occasionally  have  had  no  less  than  three 

or  four  during  the  half  hour  set  apart  for  dinner The 

number  of  instances  in  which  aid  has  been  solicited,  and  in 
which  I  have  been  obliged  to  take  some  definite  action  —  by 
way  of  investigation  or  granting  some  kind  of  immediate 
assistance  —  has  exceeded  eight  hundred,  to  say  nothing  of 
many  others  which  have  been  summarily  dismissed.' 

"  In  turning  over  the  pages  of  my  journal,  corresponding 
in  time  with  this  report,  I  find  that  in  almost  all  cases  of 
pressing  necessity  which  came  before  me,  intemperance  was 
the  inducing  cause. 

(From  My  Quarterly  Report,  April  1,  1851. 

'  In  my  last  quarterly  report  I  stated  that  the  number  of 
applications  for  assistance  during  the  quarter  ending  January 
1,  which  seemed  to  require  some  definite  action,  exceeded 
eiirht  hundred.  During  the  first  two  months  of  the  (juarter 
ending  to-day,  i.  e.,  January  and  February,  they  were  much 
more  numerous  than  ever  before,  and  no  memorandum  was 

made  of  their  number The  ap[)licants  were  accustomed 

to  call  at  all  liours   of  the   day,   and  occasionally  as  late  as 


OF   KEAL   DOW.  413 

half-past  nine  at  night.  During  these  months  I  was  seldom 
able  to  take  a  meal  without  having  from  one  to  four  calls  from 
the  table.  While  the  severest  storms  of  the  season  were  rag- 
ing, I  found  six  families,  in  each  of  which  were  infants  from 
one  day  to  six  months  old,  or  very  aged  and  infirm  persons, 
or  both,  entirely  destitute  of  fire  and  fuel,  and  some   of  thom 

at  the  same  time  destitute  of  food Their  sufferings  and 

destitution  were  occasioned  entirely  by  l^eastly  intemperance. 

The    chief    of    all   the    destitution   and    wretchedness 

witnessed  during  the  quarter  just  ended,  as  well  as  at  all 
other  times  since  my  residence  here,  has  been  the  result  of 
intemperance.' 

(From  My  Quarterly  Keport,  July  2,  1851.) 
'  For  six  months  past  I  have    given  much  attention  to  the 

subject  of  temperance Previous  to  the  passage  of  the 

recent  liquor  bill,  I  assisted  in  finding  out  one  hundred  and 
seventy  places  where  intoxicating  liquors  were  illegally   sold 

and  drank Under  such  circumstances,  nothing  but  the 

most  reckless  disregard  of  God  and  man  could  induce  any  one 
to  do  anything  to  favor  this  most  nefarious  traffic,  or  to 
violate  a  law  the  most  salutary  and  needful  to  human  progress 
ever  enacted  on  earth.  I  should  consider  its  repeal  without 
a  substitute  equally  salutary  and  stringent,  a  greater  calamity 
than  all  the  plagues  of  Egypt  poured  upon  our  land  at  once. 
'Let  this  reformation  go  on,  and  our  ministry  will  not  be 

labor  and  money  thrown  away Our  almshouses  and 

jails  will  give  place  to  churches,  schoolhouses,  libraries  and 
lecture  rooms.' 

"I  have  paid  great  attention  to  the  subject  of  juvenile 
vagrancy,  truancy  from  school,  etc.,  for  more  than  two  years 
and  a  half  past ;  and  since  receiving  your  letter,  I  have 
called  on  most  of  the  teachers  of  the  Primary,  and  all  of  those 
of  the  boys'  Grammar  schools,  who  have  unanimously  con- 
firmed my  opinion  of  the  vast  improvement  in  the  punctuality 
and  conduct  of  the  more  irregular  i)ortion  of  their  pupils  — 
especially,  they  say,  loiihin  the  last  six  months.  I  do  not 
believe  that  there  is  now  prevalent  a  fourth  part  of  the 
truancy,  vagrancy,  and  nocturnal  orgies  which  have  so  often 
made  the  night  hideous,  which  we  were  accustomed  to  witness 
a  year  ago.  Most  of  the  young  vagrant  rowdies  with  whom 
the  city  has  heretofore  been  so  dreadfully  infested,  have  been 
children  of  intemperate  parents. 

"  The  attendance  on  the  evenino-  school   has  1)ecn   twenty 


414  REMINISCENCES 

per  cent  greater  during  the  last  term  than  on  any  previous 
occasion,  notwithstanding  the  new  rigid  rules  as  to  their 
admittance,  which  excluded  large  numbers  of  applicants,  and 

which  were  never  adopted  till  the  last  session 

"  I  have  already  given  you  a  comparative  view  of  the  calls 
for  charity  during  the  quarters  ending  respectively  on  the 
first  of  January,  1851-52.  As  for  the  months  of  January 
and  February  this  year,  compared  with  those  of  last,  the  dim- 
inution of  calls  has  been  fully  two-thirds,  and  the  cases  of 
extreme  w^ant  have  changed  from  great  frequency  and  enormity 
to  none  at  all.  I  have  not  had  as  many  applicants  for  the 
bestowment  of  charity  of  any  kind,  since  the  first  day  of 
January,  as  there  have   been  secular  days   during  the  time. 

I  feel  that  this  ministry  may  now  begin  to  do  the  work 

for  which  it  was  originally  designed — a  w'ork  connected  with 
the  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  improvement  of  the  poor 
—  and  not  the  mere  business  of  alms-giving  and  relief  of  the 
physical  wants  of  wretched,  intemperate  paupers,  for  whom 
we  could  hope  nothing  more  than  temporary  physical  relief, 
while  intemperance  abounded  as  heretofore. 

Very  respectfully,         W.   H.   Hadley." 

Evidence  no  less  conclusive  was  abundant  to  show, 
what  was  to  be  expected  following  upon  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  liquor-traffic,  that  every  kind  of  legitimate 
trade  had  been  improved.  Money  was  no  longer 
finding  its  way  into  the  grog-shops,  and  the  butcher, 
the  baker,  the  clothier,  and  all  other  useful  trades- 
men, found  their  sales  larger  and  collections  easier. 
In  short,  the  city  had  a  glimpse  and  foretaste  of  those 
inestima])le  blessings  to  be  enjoyed  when  the  vast  evils 
resulting  from  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  shall 
be  no  more.  In  a  few  months  it  had  been  demon- 
strated beyond  all  possibility  of  successful  denial  that 
Prohibition  could  be  enforced,  and  that  enforced 
Prohil^ition  would  prohibit.  It  had  been  as  clearly 
shown  that  a  community  living  under  enforced  Pro- 
hibition would  not  only  be  free  from  the  evils 
inseparable  from  the  lifpior-traffic,  but  would  succeed 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  415 

to  the  enjoyment  of  many  positive  advantages  in 
their  stead. 

So  many  and  great  had  been  the  benefits  to  the  state 
generally  of  enforced  Prohibition,  that  the  subject 
was  now  attracting  wide  attention  beyond  the  borders 
of  Maine.  This  had  forced  upon  me  a  large  corres- 
pondence, covering  substantially  all  the  United  States 
and  the  Canadas.  I  was  also  in  receipt  of  many 
urgent  invitations  from  widely  scattered  localities  to 
make  addresses,  all  but  a  few  of  which  my  official 
duties  compelled  me  to  decline. 

Among  those  that  I  felt  obliged  to  accept  was  one  to 
speak  before  a  legislative  committee  of  Massachusetts, 
appointed  to  consider  the  subject  of  a  prohibitory  law. 
This  was  in  January,  1852.  The  meeting  was  held 
in  Representatives'  Hall,  which  was  crowded  to  its 
utmost  capacity.  The  large  audience  indicated  the 
popular  interest  in  the  subject,  while  the  reception  I 
was  accorded  satisfied  me  that  it  was  largely  in 
sympathy  with  the  views  I  had  to  present. 

On  this  occasion  I  had  the  great  pleasure  of  meeting 
one  of  my  early  preceptors  in  temperance.  Rev.  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher,  who,  with  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  and 
Rev.  Father  Taylor,  addressed  the  committee  along 
the  line  of  my  effort.  Subsequently,  Massachusetts 
adopted  a  law,  taking  that  of  Maine  for  a  model,  but 
departed,  however,  in  some  particulars  from  it.  A 
year  or  two  later  some  of  its  features  were  pronounced 
unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  law 
was  afterwards  amended  to  conform  to  that  decision. 

Another  gathering  outside  of  Maine  that  I  attended 
about  that  time  was  a  great  banquet  of-  the  National 
Temperance  society  in  New  York.  Among  those 
present  were  Hon.  Samuel  Houston,  of  Texas,  who 


416  REMINISCENCES 

was  the  president  of  the  society,  and  Rev.  T.  L. 
Cuyler,  who  alone  survives  of  all  that  I  can  recall  as 
in  attendance.  To  Dr.  Cuyler  and  his  eminent  ser- 
vices for  temperance  I  shall  have  occasion  to  again 
refer.  Rev.  John  Chambers,  of  Philadelphia,  was 
there,  as  were  also  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Rev. 
Dr.  E.  H.  Chapin,  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  and  many 
other  clergymen,  none  the  less  devoted  friends  of 
temperance,  though  not  so  widely  known  as  those  I 
have  mentioned.  I  met  on  this  occasion,  for  the  first 
time,  P.  T.  Barnum,  of  Connecticut,  and  had  an 
opportunity  to  renew  my  acquaintance  with  Horace 
Mann. 

After  several  toasts  had  been  offered  and  responses 
made,  came  the  following  sentiment: 

"The  Maine  Law.  It  infringes  no  man's  just  and  lawful 
rights  ;  it  interrupts  no  proper  or  legitimate  branch  of  trade  ; 
but,  like  laws  for  the  destruction  of  the  implements  of  gaming 
and  counterfeiting,  it  operates  only  for  the  public  good," 

I  was  called  upon  to  respond.  My  reception  by  the 
large  gathering  was  extremely  gratifying,  indicating 
as  it  did  that  representative,  thoughtful  men  of  the 
country,  whose  lives  were  largely  devoted  to  the  wel- 
fare of  society,  of  whom  the  attendance  was  mostly 
made  up,  had  become  thoroughly  aroused  to  the 
necessity  for  legislative  action  against  the  liquor- 
traffic.  When  the  applause  had  subsided,  and  I 
was  commencing  to  speak,  I  was  surprised  by  an 
interruption  from  General  Houston,  who,  in  the  name 
of  the  society,  presented  me  with  a  gold  medal,* 
about  three  inches  in  diameter,  with  the  inscription: 
' '  Presented  to  Neal  Dow  for  Eminent  Service  in  the 
Temperance  Cause.     New  York,  February  18,  1852." 

*  This  medal,  after  the  deatli  of  General  Dow,  was,  conforming 
to  his  request,  presented  to  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard,  for  the  W.  C  T.  U. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  417 

For  these  and  other  reasons  the  little  city  of  Port- 
land had  become  widely  known,  and  the  question  of  its 
mayoralty  for  the  coming  year  was  exciting  more  than 
local  interest,  so  that  it  is  questionable  if  in  a  city  of 
its  size  a  municipal  contest  ever  attracted  as  much 
attention  outside  its  limits  as  did  that  which  was  now 
approaching  there  in  the  spring  election  of  1852.  The 
newspapers  all  over  the  country  commented  upon  it 
before  and  after  the  result  was  ascertained. 

The  disgruntled  and  discomfited  old-time  Whig 
leaders,  who  the  year  before  had  found  their  occupa- 
tion of  dictating  nominations  gone,  were  determined 
to  "get  even"  with  me,  and  the  consternation  and 
desperation  of  the  liquor-element  furnished  them  an 
abundance  of  material  to  be  utilized  for  their  purpose. 
This  was  supplemented  by  a  large  and  eminently 
respectable,  conservative  element,  to  which  change 
was  always  disagreeable,  excitement  objectionable, 
positive  convictions  irritating,  and  a  decided,  unequiv- 
ocal action,  even  against  wrong,  especially  obnoxious. 
Those  three  elements  were  to  be  combined  against  my 
re-election,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  opposition 
to  me  would  be  formidable. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  were  determined  to 
compass  my  defeat  had  much  to  reckon  with.  While 
the  rigid  enforcement  of  the  Maine  Law  had  annihi- 
lated the  liquor-traffic,  it  had  also  inured  in  other 
particulars,  as  has  been  shown,  to  the  benefit  of  the 
town.  Meanwhile,  no  other  interest  had  been  neg- 
lected. Ordinary  municipal  affairs  had  been  closely 
looked  after,  and  the  city  finances  were  admittedly  in 
better  condition  than  when  I  assumed  office.  In  the 
meantime  several  public  improvements  of  great  value 
and  importance  to  the  future  of  Portland  Jiad  been 


418  KEMINISCENCES 

inaugurated.  In  none  of  these  particulars  was  there 
any  opportunity  for  criticism.  It  had  been  clearly 
shown  that  there  was  nothing  inconsistent  between  a 
vigorous  enforcement  of  the  prohibitory  law  and 
careful  attention  to  all  the  ordinary  municipal  busi- 
ness. It  had  been  further  demonstrated  that  the 
suppression  of  the  liquor-traffic  was  an  important 
contribution  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  com- 
munity. It  was  clear  that  those  who  proposed  to 
defeat  an  administration  of  which  so  much  that  was 
favorable  could  be  said  had  no  ordinary  task  upon 
their  hands,  and  if  my  re-election  was  to  be  prevented 
the  opposition  must  throw  more  votes  than  it  had 
ever  cast  in  Portland. 

The  details  of  the  contest  now  opened  would  not  be 
worth  space  here  had  the  struggle  been  one  simply 
involving  purely  local  issues,  however  important.  In 
name,  to  be  sure,  it  was  a  municipal  election  in  one 
of  the  smaller  cities  of  the  country.  To  such, 
ordinarily,  attention  is  not  attracted  outside  the 
boundaries  including  the  residences  of  those  who 
have  a  right  to  participate  in  it;  but  this,  as  has  been 
stated,  was  watched  with  great  interest  by  a  large 
portion  of  the  country,  which  had  come  to  look  upon 
everything  pertaining  to  the  Maine  Law  as  important. 

By  the  uniform  usage  of  my  party,  I  was  entitled  to 
a  renomination  as  in  all  matters  relating  to  general 
municipal  affairs  my  administration  had  not  been 
subjected  to  a  breath  of  suspicion.  But  in  this  case  a 
matter  vastly  greater  than  usage  controlled,  and  my 
candidacy  for  re-election  could  not  be  prevented. 
It  would  have  been  inevitable  had  I  desired  retire- 
ment myself,  unless  the  earnest  friends  of  Prohibition 
had  determined  to  abandon  the  principle  for  which 


OF   NEAL    DOAV.  419 

they  had  been  so  long  laboring  just  as  it  had  been 
secured  and  successfully  applied. 

My  name  was  now,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home,  insep- 
arably connected  with  a  policy  which  was  already 
proving  of  great  value  to  the  city.  The  measure  which 
I  had  applied  so  successfully  there  had  now  won  al- 
most world-wide  celebrity,  and  had  given  the  state  of 
Maine  and  the  city  of  Portland  a  fame  that  neither 
had  enjoyed  before.  There  could  be  no  shrinking 
now  from  the  struggle  unless  all  was  to  be  given  up, 
and  no  one  thought  of  that. 

The  Whig  caucuses  were  called  in  the  usual  way, 
and  delegates  favorable  to  my  nomination  were  chosen 
without  a  lisp  of  opposition  in  any  ward.  Among 
them  was  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  soon  to  be  chosen  a 
United  States  senator  as  a  result  of  the  revolution  of 
which  signs  were  already  to  be  seen  in  the  political 
horizon  of  the  state,  and  in  which  the  Maine  Law  and 
its  friends  were  to  play  so  important  a  part.  The  nom- 
inating delegates  assembled  in  convention,  and,  going 
through  the  usual  form,  unanimously  voted  to  sub- 
mit my  name  to  the  mass-meeting.  There,  where  my 
friend  the  collector  of  the  port  had  been  so  active  in 
opposition  to  me  the  year  before,  not  a  sign  of  antago- 
nism was  manifested,  and  the  action  of  the  delegates 
was  ratified  with  an  enthusiasm  rarely  witnessed  in 
such  gatherings.  It  was  evident  that  my  support  was 
to  be  large  and  cordial. 

The  Democrats  had  before  this  nominated  the  ven- 
erable Albion  K.  Parris  to  lead  the  opposition.  To 
be  confronted  by  such  an  antagonist  was  in  itself 
no  slight  evidence  of  the  conviction  in  the  minds  of 
my  opponents  that  the  Maine  Law  had  won  a  strong 
hold  upon  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  that  the 


420  KEMINISCENCES 

candidate  whom  force  of  circumstances  had  made  its 
special  representative  could  be  defeated  by  no  ordinary 
competitor. 

Unquestionably,  Judge  Parris  was  the  strongest 
candidate  that  could  have  been  selected  by  those 
opposed  to  my  re-election.  His  had  been  a  remark- 
able political  career.  Having  served  in  both  branches 
of  the  Massachusetts  legislature  before  the  separation 
of  Maine  from  the  mother  state,  he  was  afterwards 
elected  to  two  Congresses;  thence  he  was  transferred 
to  the  bench  of  the  United  States  District  Court.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  the 
state,  had  been  a  justice  of  its  Supreme  Court,  had 
represented  Maine  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
had  been  five  times  elected  governor,  in  the  last  three 
cases  by  practically  unanimous  votes.  Of  unsullied 
reputation  in  public  and  private  life,  kind,  courteous 
and  considerate  in  his  intercourse  with  all,  his  vener- 
able years  alike  lifted  him  above  the  jealousies  of 
factions  in  his  own  party  and  dissipated  all  fear 
among  Whigs  that  his  election  would  prove  detri- 
mental to  their  politics.  It  was  also  probably  true 
that  the  Democrats  of  Portland  could  have  selected  no 
man  who  could  better  hold  to  their  party  allegiance 
any  disposed  to  vote  for  me  because  of  their  approval 
of  the  Maine  Law,  or  who  could  induce  more  Whigs 
disapproving  of  that  measure  to  vote  against  their 
party  candidate,  than  the  highly  eminent  citizen 
wlio,  much  against  his  own  personal  wishes,  was  now 
besought,  in  return  for  all  the  honors  his  party  had 
bestowed  upon  him,  to  lend  the  great  influence  of 
his  prestige  to  help  defeat  the  Whig  candidate  for 
mayor. 

I  have  referred  to  the  nominations  respectively  as 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  421 

Whig  and  Democratic.  Such  in  name  they  were,  but 
party  ties  were  to  be  melted  in  the  heat  of  the 
strife,  and  "liberal"  Whigs  were  to  out-democrat 
Democrats  in  their  support  of  the  Democratic  candi- 
date, while  "temperance"  Democrats  were  to  out- 
whig  Whigs  in  their  devotion  to  the  Whig  nominee. 

As  the  approaching  election  was  the  first  of  marked 
consequence  in  the  state  since  the  enactment  of  the 
Maine  Law,  it  was  deemed  of  importance  by  both 
friends  and  foes  of  that  measure  throughout  the 
country.  The  newspaper  files  of  the  day  disclose  that 
it  was  widely  believed  outside  the  state  that  the  fate 
of  Prohibition  was  involved  in  its  issue.  In  Portland, 
however,  while  it  was  undoubtedly  true  that  hostility 
to  the  law  furnished  the  animus  to  a  most  intense 
opposition  to  my  re-election,  and  was  able  to  obtain 
great  assistance  from  the  liQuor-interest  of  Boston 
and  New  York,  so  far  as  the  avowed  objects  of  my 
opponents  disclosed,  the  law  was  not  at  all  at  stake. 

In  Portland  the  issue  of  record  was  not  a  contest 
over  the  law,  but  between  those  who  approved  the 
rigid  and  impartial  execution  it  had  had  under  my 
administration,  and  those  claiming  to  favor  what 
they  called  a  "wise,"  "discreet,"  "reasonable"  en- 
forcement of  its  provisions. 

The  following  quotation  from  the  Democratic  daily 
of  the  time,  which  supported  Governor  Parris,  shows 
that  in  the  opinion  of  those  in  charge  of  his  canvass. 
Prohibition  per  se  had  so  won  its  way  into  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people  that  my  defeat'  could  be  better 
secured  by  avowing  devotion  to  the  law  than  by  an- 
tagonizing it: 

*'  False  issues  !  The  opposition  have  undertaken  to  place 
the  Democratic  ticket  as  adverse  to  the  liquor  law.     That  is 


422  EEMINISCENCES 

not  the  issue,  fellow  citizens.  Hundreds  of  staunch  friends 
of  that  law  will  vote  for  Albion  K.  Parris.  Their  ol)jection 
is  to  what  tliev  deem  the  unwarrantal)le  mode  of  executing  it. 
They  wish  to  see  it  faithfully  and  effectively  maintained,  ])ut 
not  so  as  to  infringe  upon  the  legal  rights  of  others.  The 
election  of  Mr.  Parris  is  not  to  be  considered  a  test  of  the 
pu1)lic  sentiment  of  Portland  on  the  ({uestion,  so  that  temper- 
ance men  can  safely  cast  their  votes  for  that  gentleman." 

Prol)ably  no  action  of  the  authorities  in  the  course 
of  the  execution  of  the  law  had  aroused  so  much 
opposition  as  the  seizure  at  raih'oad  stations  and 
steamboat  wharves,  of  liquors  marked  and  often  in- 
tended for  country  towns.  The  effectiveness  of  the 
method  of  thus  seizing  comparatively  large  quantities 
before  they  could  be  distributed  and  concealed  in  a 
hundred  different  localities  had  something  to  do  with 
the  criticism  of  that  method.  But  more  potent, 
because  more  respectable,  were  the  complaints  about 
it  growing  out  of  the  idea  that  it  interfered  in 
some  mysterious  way  with  the  business  of  the  city. 
"Why  trouble  these  liquors?"  was  asked  by  some 
merchants.  "They  are  not  to  be  sold  here.  They 
will  do  no  damage.  Let  them  come  and  go.  They 
will  i)ay  much  freight  to  railroads  and  steamboats, 
storage  at  our  warehouses  and  wharfage  at  our 
wharves.  To  seize  such  will  certainly  interfere  with 
the  trade  and  commerce  of  Portland.''  The  reply  of 
the  authorities  was  uniform.  "  It  is  our  duty  to  seize 
such  liquors.  They  are  made  contraband  by  the  law. 
That  in  itself  is  a  sufficient  justification  without  con- 
sidering the  general  question  of  its  effect  upon  the 
prosperity  of  the  city;  but  as  to  that  it  is  easily  to  be 
demonstrated  that  the  growth  and  progress  of  the 
city  of  Portland  can  never  be  enhanced  by  anything 
which  tends,  as  does  the  trade  in  intoxicants,  to  im- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  423 

poverisli  lier  own  citizens  and  tlioae  of  the  country 
towns,  upon  whom  her  trade  must  always  depend." 

Nevertheless,  some  of  these  gentlemen  would  not  be 
convinced  that  it  was  wise  or  well  to  seize  liquors  at 
the  wharves  and  depots,  and  they  were  insistent  that 
"the  interests  of  the  city  as  a  commercial  port  and 
the  central  depot  of  the  state  should  not  be  permitted 
to  suffer  by  an  "injudicious"  administration  of  the 
law." 

As  has  been  intimated,  party  lines  were  generally 
ignored  during  the  campaign,  and  by  the  morning  of 
election  day  they  were  completely  broken  down.  The 
disaffected  Whigs  arranged  with  the  Democrats  in 
the  strong  Whig  wards  to  run  Whigs  instead  of 
Democrats  on  their  local  ward  tickets,  thus  making- 
it  easier  for  Whigs  to  vote  against  me,  while  in  the 
Democratic  strongholds  Whig  nominees  on  the  Dow 
ticket  yielded  to  Democrats  favorable  to  my  election. 
It  thus  became  a  straight  "Dow"  and  "anti-Dow" 
fight,  those  being  the  slogans  with  which  the  voters 
were  rallied  to  the  polls. 

A  thousand  shafts  were  aimed  at  me  personally, 
by  some  professing  to  favor  Prohibition,  and  dur- 
ing the  day  while  the  balloting  was  in  progress,  a 
stranger,  with  no  other  information  than  such  as  he 
could  gather  from  the  conversation  about  the  polls 
would  have  found  it  difficult  to  decide  which  were  the 
better  friends  of  the  Maine  Law,  the  "Dowites"  or 
the  "Antis."  He  might  have  been  assisted  by  some 
other  signs  but  these  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention. 

The  interest  was  intense  throughout  the  city. 
Nothing  like  it  before  or  since  has  occurred  within 
my  knowledge.  A  severe  snowstorm  prevailed,  but 
in  spite  of  this  the  vicinage  of  each  polling  place  was 


424  REMINISCENCES 

tlironged  with  earnest  and  enthusiastic  workers  on 
each  side.  During  the  last  hour  belated  voters  were 
obliged  to  work  their  way  to  the  ballot  boxes  by  a 
narrow  path  through  the  crowd,  and  each  voter  was 
cheered  by  that  side  with  which  he  decided  to  cast  his 
vote.  There  was  no  other  disturbance;  there  were  no 
runishops  open,  no  man  lost  his  temper  or  his  head, 
and  everything  was  as  good  natured  as  such  a  crowd, 
in  such  a  storm  and  in  such  excitement  could  be. 

Tlie  vote  of  the  city  was  a  third  larger  than  had 
ever  been  polled  before.  My  vote  the  year  before,  it 
may  be  remembered,  was  larger  than  any  candidate 
for  mayor  of  Portland  had  to  that  time  received. 
This  year  it  was  increased  over  that  at  my  previous 
election  in  larger  proportion  than  the  growth  in  popu- 
lation, and  was  considerably  in  excess  of  that  of  the 
rest  of  the  Whig  ticket  in  several  wards.  This,  in 
view  of  the  great  personal  popularity  of  my  competi- 
tor, might  be  regarded  as  a  popular  vindication  of  my 
administration  and  an  endorsement,  of  a  vigorous  and 
impartial  execution  of  the  law.  Under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, in  a  normal  —  shall  I  say  honest  ?  —  vote, 
it  would  have  re-elected  me.  But  I  was  defeated. 
The  feeling  following  upon  my  defeat  might  well 
be  passed  unnoticed  had  the  election  been  deemed  by 
our  citizens  as  a  mere  contest  between  rival  aspirants 
for  position,  or  only  the  expression  of  a  locality  as  to  a 
chief  magistrate.     But  it  was  much  more  than  that. 

To  me,  personally,  it  is  to  be  understood,  defeat 
was  nothing,  unless,  indeed,  it  was  of  great  advantage. 
I  had  been  accustomed  to  such  reverses,  and  had 
little  to  learn  in  such  a  school.  Had  there  otherwise 
been  ground  for  merely  personal  disappointment,  it 
would  have  been  dissipated  by  the  merging  of  my 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  425 

individuality  in  what  I  had  come  to  represent.  Here, 
too,  there  were  some  compensations  and  encourage- 
ments. An  aged  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Cressey, 
had  walked  that  day  in  all  the  storm,  ten  miles  from 
Gorham,  being  unable  to  procure  conveyance,  in 
order  to  vote  for  me  —  or  rather,  for  that  for  which 
my  name  stood.  That  evening,  in  the  regular  week- 
ly prayer-meetings  of  the  various  churches,  reference 
was  made  in  many  prayers  to  the  result. 

Such  evidences  of  the  deep  interest  of  many  Chris- 
tian people  in  that  which  I  had  been  called  upon 
to  serve  as  best  I  might  was  of  great  encouragement 
to  me.  When  a  cause  is  worth  praying  for  it  is  worth 
working  for,  and  surely,  conscientious,  thoughtful, 
courageous  Christians  must  feel  called  upon  to  work 
for  that  upon  which  they  invoke  the  divine  blessing. 

It  must  not  be  understood  that  all  the  good  people 
of  Portland  voted  for  me  on  that  day.  Far  from  it. 
Had  such  been  the  case,  the  result  would  have  been 
otherwise;  but  I  heard  of  none  of  them  who,  after 
the  votes  had  been  counted,  felt  it  a  duty,  either  in 
public  or  private,  to  thank  God  in  prayer  for  the 
result,  as  I  did  know  of  those  who  prayed  most 
earnestly  that  it  might  be  overruled  for  good.  Under 
such  circumstances  who  could  be  discouraged  ? 
Others    may  have   been;    I  was  not. 

The  abnormally  large  Democratic  vote  excited  much 
comment.  It  was  almost  double  that  given  to  my 
competitor  the  previous  year,  and  there  were  many 
allegations  of  fraud.  It  was  publicly  alleged,  and  so 
far  as  I  know  never  denied,  that  many  naturalization 
papers  were  procured  in  Boston  through  the  agency 
of  the  liquor-interest  there,  and  were  put  into  the 
hands  of  aliens  who  were  hired  to  swear  to  their 


426  REMINISCENCES 

identity  with  tlie  persons  in  whose  names  those  papers 
had  been  issued.  In  those  days  that  was  sufficient  to 
get  a  name  on  the  voting  list  up  to  tlie  fast  minute 
before  the  ciosing  of  the  polfs.  It  was  said  that 
hundreds  of  votes  were  secured  in  tiiat  way. 

No  legai  investigation  was  had,  however,  and  no 
attemi)t  was  made  to  justify  those  charges  at  any 
competent  tribunai.  Certain  it  is  tiiat  if  there  was 
fraud  neither  Governor  Parris  nor  any  of  the  respect- 
abie  persons  who  supported  him  were  concerned  in  it. 
But  the  term  respectabie  cannot  be  properiy  appiied  to 
those  whose  soie  animus  for  opposition  to  me  was 
their  desire  to  engage  once  more  in  the  iiquor- 
traffic  in  Portiand. 

So  many  years  have  passed  since  my  defeat  that 
no  personai  feefing,  either  of  disappointment,  resent- 
ment or  regret,  if  any  ever  existed  in  connection  with 
that  matter,  remains,  but  I  quote  from  a  fetter  pub- 
fished  some  time  after  over  the  signature  of  Wiffiam 
W.  Thomas,  who  justfy  enjoys  to  this  day  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  of  an  exceptionaffy  cafm,  dispassionate 
temi)erament,  as  showing  his  view  of  tfie  situation, 
f^nown  to  fiim  as  afderman.     He  wrote: 

'*  Well,  you  may  not  understand  why  Neal  Dow  was  not 
re-elected,  and  it  will  take  some  time  to  make  you  acquainted 
with  all  the  kinds  of  opposition  1)rou<rlit  against  him.  One 
thing,  however,  you  wdll  keep  in  mind  at  the  outset  —  Mr. 
Dow  had  a  majority  of  the  legal  votes.  jNfany  people  were 
brougiit  uj)  to  the  polls  who  had  no  right  to  vote,  hut  they 
swore  that  they  w^ere  so  and  so.  Some  of  them  were  rejected 
at  the  polls.  There  were  hundreds  of  naturalization  tickets 
brought  from  Boston  and  handed  to  parties  who  came  up  and 
swore  in  on  those  tickets,  and  thus  the  list  was  raised.  It 
was  understood  that  these  tickets  were  borrowed  for  the 
occasion  in  fioston,  and  given  to  people  \\li()  had  no  kind  of 
title  to  vote  in  Portland." 


Hon.  W.m.  W.  Thomas. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  427 

Whether  or  not  Mr.  Thomas  was  correct  in  his  ex- 
pressions, shortly  afterwards  the  law  bearing  upon 
the  voting  lists  was  so  changed  as  to  make  it  less  easy 
to  do  what  he  believed  was  done  at  that  election. 

Among  the  incidents  following  my  defeat,  none 
touched  me  more  deeply  than  the  calls  upon  me  of 
poor  women,  the  wives  of  men  who  before  the  enact- 
ment of  the  Maine  Law  had  been  intemperate.  They 
came  with  tears  in  their  eyes  to  ask  me  if  the  rum- 
shops  were  to  be  opened  once  more  and  they  to  be 
again  exposed  to  the  suffering  they  had  endured 
before  they  were  closed.  I  was  happy  to  be  able  to 
assure  them  that  I  believed  the  new  mayor  would  not 
willingly  assent  to  that. 

My  duty,  as  I  have  understood  it,  has  often  called 
me  into  paths  where  I  have  known  that  numbers  of  the 
influential  in  the  community  could  not  see  their  way 
to  lend  any  aid  or  encouragement.  But  many  of 
those  less  favored  in  life  have  often  come  to  express 
their  sympathy  in  their  plain  humble  way,  urged  to  it 
as  were  those  poor  women,  by  their  appreciation  of 
advantages  they  had  experienced  in  their  own  lives 
from  Just  such  service  as  the  earnest  friends  of  temper- 
ance were  trying  to  render. 

Portland,  however,  was  only  one  part  in  the  line 
along  which  the  battle  was  fought  that  spring.  We 
have  seen  that  there,  there  was  no  open  and  avowed 
opposition  to  the  law  itself,  but  rather  to  the  way 
the  authorities  had  executed  it.  The  issue  was  more 
clearly  defined  in  many  other  places.  In  no  less  than 
one  hundred  and  sixty-three  cities  and  towns  in  the 
state,  the  question  of  the  enforcement  of  the  law  was 
the  controlling  issue.  In  seven  of  these,  including 
Portland,  those  most  identified  with  Prohibition  were 


428  EEMINISCENCES    OF    NEAL    DOW. 

defeated  by  candidates  professing  to  favor  it;  in 
thirty-three  towns  the  friends  of  the  new  law^  were 
defeated  by  its  avowed  opponents,  while  in  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  cities  and  towns  its  pro- 
nounced supporters  were  successful.  _  Altogether, 
therefore,  the  municipal  elections  in  the  spring  of 
1852  indicated  a  strong  popular  sentiment  favorable 
to  Prohil^ition,  promising  permanency  to  the  new 
policy  and  relief  to  the  state  from  the  incubus  of 
the  traffic  under  which  it  had  so  long  labored. 


CHAPTER   XVir. 


DEMANDS    UPON    MY     TIME     OUTSIDE     OF     MAINE.  EFFORTS 

TO   SUSTAIN   GOVERNOR   HUBBARD    AND   THE   MAINE 
LAW     IN     THE    STATE     ELECTION     OF     1852. 
PROHIBITION    A    DISTURBING    ELE- 
MENT  IN    THE    POLITICS 
OF    MAINE. 


Conscions  that,  as  mayor,  in  the  administration  of 
the  new  law  as  in  every  other  particular.  I  had  only 
discharged  what  I  believed  to  be  my  duty,  I  accepted 
my  retirement  from  office  with  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  I  had  preserved  my  self-respect.  This 
was  of  infinitely  more  worth  to  me  than  to  have 
retained  the  office  at  the  price  demanded  for  it,  even 
had  I  wished  so  to  do  on  personal  grounds,  however 
strong. 

The  outgoing  city  government,  at  its  meeting  sub- 
sequent to  my  defeat,  supplementing  the  ordinary 
resolutions  of  thanks  to  a  retiring  mayor,  unani- 
mously adopted  the  following: 

"Resolved,  that  for  the  noble  stand  he  (Mayor  Dow)  has 
taken  in  temperance  reformation,  and  for  the  unremitting 
assiduity  with  which  he  has  attended  to  the  irksome  and 
wearying  duties  connected  with  the  enforcement  of  the  tem- 
perance law,  he  merits  the  gratitude  not  only  of  the  citizens 
of  Portland,  but  of  the  whole  state." 


430  EEMINISCEXCES 

That  resolution  was  all  the  more  gratifying  to  me 
personally,  as  it  was  most  significant,  coming  as  it 
did  immediately  after  my  defeat.  Aside  from  its 
com|)limentary  phrases,  it  indicated  that  the  men  who 
had  borne  with  me  the  heat  of  the  contest  developed 
in  the  first  application  of  Prohibition,  had  not  lost 
heart  and  were  not  demoralized  by  the  apparent 
popular  condemnation  of  our  course. 

Following  the  time-honored  custom  at  the  installa- 
tion of  the  new  city  government,  I  introduced  the 
mayor-elect  to  those  who  were  to  be  his  associates  in 
the  administration  of  city  affairs,  thus  terminating 
my  official  duties.  Mayor  Parris,  in  a  brief  inaugu- 
ral, announced  an  intention  to  "enforce  the  law," 
and  expressed  the  hope  that  at  the  end  of  his  term  it 
would  be  found  that  the  morals  of  the  city  had  not 
suffered  through  any  omission  of  his.  It  is  only 
proper  to  add  that  during  his  administration  the  law 
was  so  well  enforced  that  there  was  little,  if  any, 
ground  for  complaint  among  its  ardent  friends. 

At  first  it  was  evident  that  some  dealers  expected 
more  leniency  under  the  new  mayor  than  during  the 
preceding  year,  but  they  soon  learned  that  they  could 
only  conduct  their  trade  surreptitiously.  Mayor 
Parris  did  not  have  the  same  hearty  support  from 
his  associates  in  the  city  government  as  did  his  prede- 
cessor, which  may  account  for  whatever  of  comfort 
the  secret  dealers  in  the  contraband  article  may 
have  enjoyed  under  his  administration  more  than 
under  mine.  There  was  less  seizing  of  liquors  in 
transitu,  and  not  so  sharj)  a  lookout  for  the  attic, 
back-alley,  and  l)edr(jom  groggeries  under  Mayor 
Parris.  That  was  about  all  the  difference;  yet 
uii(|uestionably  tlic  distinct   li(iuor-intere8t  felt  that 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  431 

it  liad  made  a  great  point  in  the  change,  and  had 
the  contest  the  next  year  been  between  the  same 
candidates  they  would  have  supported  him  as  cor- 
dially as  when  he  was  elected,  not  so  much  for  love  of 
him,  perhaps,  as  for  hatred  of  me. 

It  was  soon  evident  that,  whatever  its  effect  locally, 
my  defeat  was  to  afford  the  opportunity  to  widen  and 
vivify  the  interest  in  Prohibition.  My  first  thought 
was  that  the  relief  from  the  duties  of  the  mayoralty 
would  allow  me  to  give  attention  to  my  private  busi- 
ness interests.  But  in  this  I  was  disappointed. 
Demands  upon  my  time  from  out  of  the  state  multi- 
plied as  it  became  known  that  the  reasons  upon 
which  I  had  based  my  refusal  to  respond  during  the 
previous  year  no  longer  existed,  and  now  I  felt 
compelled  to  accept  invitations  to  attend  meetings  in 
various  states.  These  engagements  consumed  three 
months  immediately  after  my  defeat,  and  covered 
several  appointments  in  each  of  the  states  of  Massa- 
chusetts, New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and 
Michigan,  with  here  and  there  a  meeting  in  some 
other  state. 

During  this  tour  I  spoke  in  Faneuil  Hall,  for  the 
first  time.  I  had  attended  other  meetings  there,  and 
never  without  somewhat  of  the  feeling  which  the 
history  and  associations  of  that  famous  auditorium 
were  calculated  to  inspire;  but  I  had  never  been  on 
its  platform  before,  and  I  confess  to  an  unwonted 
hesitation  about  speaking  in  the  grand  old  place. 
But  all  this  vanished  in  the  presence  of  a  gang  of 
roughs,  who  prevented  me  with  their  noise  from 
being  heard  for  more  than  half  an  hour.  It  was 
said  at  the  time  that  they  had  been  paid  by  an  agent 
representing  some  grog-shops  to  break  up  the  meeting. 


432  REMINISCENCES 

Finally  a  sufficient  police  force  was  obtained  to  eject 
tlie  rowdies,  and  there  was  no  further  disturbance. 

I  recall  an  incident  showing  that  the  Maine  Law 
was  at  that  time  a  subject  of  much  thought  and 
conversation  among  men  whose  sympathies  or  whose 
duties  led  them  to  consider  social  conditions  and 
the  relation  between  the  liquor -traffic  and  many  of 
the  miseries  which  society  suffered.  On  a  steamer 
between  Buffalo  and  Detroit,  I  met  a  gentleman  from 
Toronto,  Canada.  Our  conversation  covered  a  vari- 
ety of  topics,  but  as  it  happened,  neither  of  us 
disclosed  to  the  other  his  name.  I  learned  from  him 
that  he  was  a  magistrate  in  Toronto,  having  to  deal 
with  criminals  brought  before  his  court.  He  referred 
to  the  Maine  Law  as  a  matter  in  which  he  was  much 
interested,  and,  finding  that  I  was  somewhat  informed 
upon  the  subject,  asked  me  if  I  Avas  acquainted  with 
Neal  Dow.  I  could  not  say  no,  and  hesitated  until  I 
thought  it  too  late  to  disclose  my  identity.  Refer- 
ring to  the  incident,  I  wrote  in  my  daily  letter  to  my 
wife: 

"  He  pressed  me  for  information  about  ]Mr.  Dow,  and  the 
working  of  the  Maine  Law.  Of  course  I  praised  the  one,  the 
law,  and  let  the  other  (N.  D.)  off  easily  without  exposing 
many  of  his  faults,  about  which  his  enemies  talk  so  much. 
He  did  not  suspect  who  I  was,  and  said  that  he  would  take 
the  first  opportunity  he  had  to  visit  Portland,  examine  into 
the  subject  of  tlie  Maine  Law  at  the  ])lace  of  its  nativity,  and 
make  the  personal  ac<iuaintance  of  its  author." 

Reaching  home  in  the  latter  part  of  July,  I  was,  for 
most  of  the  time  up  to  the  September  election,  active- 
ly engaged  on  the  stump  and  otherwise  in  support  of 
Governor  Huljbard.  By  reason  of  a  change  in  the 
Constitution,  there  was  no  state  election  in  1851. 
Before  the  people  of  Maine,  therefore,  had  an  oppor- 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  483 

tunity  to  pass  upon  Prohibition  at  tlie  polls  more  tlian 
a  year  had  elapsed  since  its  enactment.  But  for  the 
constitutional  change  referred  to,  the  law  would  have 
been  an  issue  in  a  state  election  only  three  months 
after  its  approval  by  the  governor,  and  before  its 
benefits  could  have  been  apparent.  It  had  been,  how- 
ever, as  we  have  seen,  practically  involved  in  the 
town  elections  in  the  spring  of  1852,  with  results 
generally  favorable  to  it. 

Now  the  Maine  Law  became  the  controlling  issue  in 
the  state  election,  and  the  question,  first,  of  the 
renomination  of  Governor  Hubbard,  and,  second,  of 
his  re-election,  became  the  political  storm-center  of 
the  struggle.  The  Governor  was  popular,  and  in  more 
than  one  contest  had  been  elected  as  a  Democrat  in  a 
strong  Whig  district.  Though  at  first  supposed,  as 
an  individual,  to  be  opposed  to  Prohibition,  his  name 
had,  through  his  approval  of  the  Maine  Law,  become 
identified  with  it,  and  attacks  upon  him  because  of 
that  action  naturally  led  him  to  throw  his  influence  in 
its  behalf  into  the  contest  which  was  soon  to  follow. 

The  Democratic  party  of  Maine  at  that  time  was 
divided  into  two  factions,  as  is  apt  to  be  the  case  with 
a  party  flushed  with  long  success  at  the  polls.  The 
issue  between  the  factions  was  largely  a  question  of 
offices,  kept  as  much  out  of  sight  as  possible  under 
cover  of  whatever  question  of  state  or  national  policy 
would  serve  for  the  purpose.  As  Governor  Hubbard 
was  supposed  to  sympathize  with  one  of  these  fac- 
tions, the  other  was  prompt  to  seize  upon  the  fact  of 
his  approval  of  the  Maine  Law  to  help  its  own 
fortunes  and,  incidentally,  to  punish  him. 

It  had  been  customary  in  the  Democratic  party,  in 
order  to  save  the  cost  of  a  state  convention,  travel 


434  KEMINISCENCES 

being  then  expensive  in  time  and  money,  to  make 
its  renominations  of  candidates  for  governor  in 
caucuses  of  tlie  Democratic  members  of  the  legislature. 
The  opposition  to  the  renomination  of  Governor 
Hubbard  was  earnest,  active,  and  influential.  It  con- 
fined itself,  however,  to  demanding  a  convention  and 
opposing  the  legislative-caucus  system  as  undem- 
ocratic. But  the  cooler  heads  of  the  party  of  both 
factions,  dreading  the  row  sure  to  be  precipitated 
in  a  mass  convention,  finally  determined  that  the 
established  usage  should  prevail,  and  that  the  renom- 
ination, as  customary,  should  be  made  by  a  legislative 
caucus.  Governor  Hub1:)ard  was  accordingly  again 
put  in  nomination  in  the  early  spring  of  1852  by  the 
Democratic  members  of  the  same  legislature  that  had 
passed  the  bill  for  signing  which  the  malcontents 
were  proposing  to  punish  him.  These  latter  now 
turned  their  attention  to  the  polls,  with  the  intent,  of 
administering  discipline  there. 

The  renomination  of  Governor  Hubbard  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  formidable  bolt.  The  anti-prohibition 
element  of  the  Democratic  party  nominated  Anson  G. 
Chandler,  upon  an  avowed  anti-Maine  Law  platform. 
This  movement  drew  to  its  support  a  small  ' '  Liberal- 
Whig"  element  which  resented  the  action  of  the 
majority  of  the  Whigs  in  the  legislature  that  voted 
for  the  Maine  Law,  and  which  was  restive  under  the 
evident  tendency  of  that  party  to  support  the  new 
policy. 

This  new  combination  called  itself  the  "Liberal" 
party.  As  far  as  my  knowledge  extended,  its  com- 
mittees in  the  various  counties  were  made  up  of  men 
who  had  been  formerly,  directly  or  indirectly,  inter- 
ested in  the  liquor-traflic,  such  as  ex-distillers,  former 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  435 

wholesale-dealers,  and  tavern-keepers.  They  were 
provided  with  all  the  money  needed  to  conduct  a 
vigorous  campaign,  obtained,  it  was  said,  from  the 
liquor-interest  in  Boston,  and  New  York,  which  had 
lost  so  much  business  in  Maine  through  Prohibition. 
They  established  a  paper  in  Portland  and  entered  the 
canvass  against  Governor  Hubbard  with  an  energy 
and  determination  worthy  a  better  cause.  The  term 
"  liberal "  adopted  by  those  gentlemen  has  been  to 
this  day  in  Maine  the  political  sobriquet  of  those  who 
in  either  political  party  avow  their  opposition  to 
Prohibition  or  to  its  enforcement. 

Deeming  the  re-election  of  Governor  Hubbard  as 
desirable  in  the  extreme,  I  immediately  addressed 
myself  to  the  task  of  making  good,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  defection  in  his  own  party,  from  which  it  was  now 
evident  he  was  sure  to  suffer  as  a  candidate.  Not 
exactly  an  exemplary  Whig,  my  standing  as  such, 
nevertheless,  enabled  me  to  address  Whigs  effectively 
along  the  line  I  had  chosen  as  the  practical  one  for 
the  occasion,  viz:  to  induce  as  many  of  them  as 
possible  to  forsake  the  gubernatorial  candidate  of 
their  own  party  on  this  particular  occasion,  and  to 
support  that  of  their  old-time  antagonists.  I  tried  to 
convince  them  that,  when  a  portion  of  a  party  was 
engaged  in  striking  down  a  governor  of  its  own  selec- 
tion for  doing  his  duty,  it  was  becoming  in  good 
citizens,  of  whatever  party,  to  rally  to  his  support. 
I  also  endeavored  to  show  that  the  question  of  the 
prohibition  of  the  liquor-traffic  was  a  subject  of  more 
vital  import  to  Maine  than  any  of  the  other  issues 
about  which  political  parties  were  contending.  The 
large  vote  for  Governor  Hubbard  proved  that  some  of 
us  rendered  effective  service. 


436  REMINISCENCES 

It  was  a  presidential  year,  and  tliis,  doubtless,  had 
some  influence  on  the  result.  It  held  some  Democrats 
to  the  support  of  their  party  candidate  who  otherwise 
might  have  voted  against  him,  and  on  the  other  hand, 
prevented  thousands  of  Maine-Law  Whigs  from  doing 
what  they  certainly  would  have  done  in  an  "  off-year." 
Then,  as  now,  the  vote  of  Maine  in  September  was 
supposed  to  exert  an  influence  on  the  national  result 
in  the  following  November.  In  1840,  when  Maine 
had  broken  from  her  Democratic  moorings  to  lead  in 
that  political  revolution  which  resulted  in  the  elec- 
tion of  the  elder  Harrison,  it  was  believed  that  her 
example  had  been  potential.  Regular  party  men, 
Democrats  and  Whigs,  and  even  the  followers  of  the 
forlorn  hope  to  which  some  of  us  clung  as  Free-Soilers, 
had  come  to  look  upon  any  action  likely  to  unfavor- 
ably affect  their  respective  parties  in  a  national 
campaign  as  the  unpardonable  political  sin. 

The  old  party  leaders  sounded  as  usual  the  familiar 
calls  to  battle,  and  the  support  of  regular  nominees 
was  urged  by  them  and  by  most  of  the  recognized 
political  organs  as  earnestly  as  ever  in  the  past,  but  it 
was  evident  that  popular  attention  was  engrossed  by 
another  than  the  old  distinctively  political  issues,  and 
that  the  shibboleth  of  party  had  lost  its  power.  The 
leaders,  as  a  rule,  adhered  to  the  "old  party  flag,"  but 
the  rank  and  file  did  not  respond  as  promptly  as  in 
the  past  to  their  slogan,  and  the  most  astute  'and 
experienced  of  politicians  saw  that  they  could  only 
wait  for  the  result,  without  caring  to  predict  it. 
Neither  the  natural  devotion  of  the  voters  to  party, 
nor  the  most  pronounced  threat  of  the  application  of 
the  pains  and  penalties  in  such  cases  provided  by 
party  discipline,  was  sufficient  to  prevent  the  clevel- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  437 

opment  of  the  most  formidable  political  defection  in 
the  history  of  the  state,  whicli  ruthlessly  trampled 
under  foot  the  lines  dividing  parties  as  the  voters 
ranged  themselves  with  reference  to  the  new  issue. 

Nevertheless,  the  more  active  friends  of  Prohibi- 
tion made  every  reasonable  effort  to  avoid  taking  the 
initiative  in  any  of  the  political  complications  which 
were  now  developing.  Many  Democrats,  Whigs,  and 
Free-Soilers,  who  were  earnestly  devoted  to  their 
respective  parties,  had  thus  far  co-operated  heartily 
for  that  policy,  and  it  was  deemed  essential  for  its 
success  to  so  act  in  the  exigency  now  forced  upon  its 
friends  as  not  to  arouse  among  them  antagonism  to 
Prohibition  by  any  action  that  could  be  consistently 
avoided.  Accordingly  committees  appointed  at  tem- 
perance conventions  addressed  communications  alike 
to  the  Democratic,  Whig  and  Free-Soil  candidates  for 
.governor,  and  to  candidates  for  the  legislature  as  well, 
asking  an  avowal  of  their  views  upon  the  Maine  Law. 
The  replies  to  these  inquiries  committed  each  of  the 
"regular"  candidates  for  governor  to  the  essential 
features  of  that  legislation.  Nothing  upon  that  point 
was  asked  or  expected  of  Mr.  Chandler,  the  '  'Liberal  " 
candidate,  as  he  was  running  upon  an  avowedly  anti- 
Maine  Law  platform. 

Early  in  the  campaign,  however,  the  more  positive 
Prohibitionists,  whether  Whig  or  Free-Soil,  in  their 
political  affiliations,  came  to  see  the  propriety  of  sup- 
porting the  regular  Democratic  candidate.  Governor 
Hubbard.  The  candidates  of  their  respective  parties 
had  given  replies  to  inquiries  entirely  satisfactory  to 
the  temperance  element,  yet,  as  the  punishment  of  the 
Governor  was  the  objective  point  of  the  ' '  Liberal " 
movement,  for  his  approval  of  the  law,  support  of  him 


438  REMINISCENCES 

on  the  part  of  temperance  men  seemed  to  be  indicated 

by  ordinary  considerations  of  gratitude.     Then,  too, 

his  manly  and  unequivocal    reply  to  the    questions 

addressed  to  him  by  the  temperance  committee  had 

special  weight  with  the  more  earnest  Prohibitionists 

of  all  parties.     He  said: 

"The  ]\Iaine  Law  is  the  law  of  the  people,  deliberately 
matured  by  them  through  a  series  of  years  and  enacted  by 
the  only  organ  authorized  l)y  the  constitution  and  the  spirit 
of  our  orovernment  to  transform  the  wishes  of  our  people  into 
law  —  tlie  senate  and  house  of  representatives  assembled  —  by 
an  overwhelming  majority.  It  is  a  constitutional  law.  I  am 
prepared  to  enforce  it  for  the  suppression  of  drinking-houses 
and  tippling-shops,  and  I  am  therefore  opposed  to  any 
amendments  which  would  impair  its  efficiency,  while  I  am 
nevertheless  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  susceptil)le  of  amend- 
ment that  would  not  only  not  impair  its  efficiency,  but  which 
would  render  it  easier  of  execution  and  more  efficient." 

There  could  be,  he  further  said,  no  doubt  that  the 
people,  through  their  representatives,  had  the  right  to 
enact  a  law  to  abate  or  suppress  so  monstrous  a 
scourge  as  intemperance,  and  there  could  be  as  little 
doubt  that  the  law  in  (luestion  was  within  the  limit  of 
their  constitutional  power.  That  this  law  had  on  the 
whole  done  good,  could  not,  he  thought,  be  denied 
by  any  candid,  observing  person. 

The  i)olitical  leaders,  of  course,  were  not  disposed 
to  abandon  the  field  without  a  struggle,  and  most 
strenuous  exertions  were  made  to  reconstruct  the 
broken  party  lines  and  to  i^reserve  the  old  organiza- 
tions intact.  It  was  pressed  ui)on  the  Whigs  that  the 
opI)ortunity  of  that  party  in  Maine  had  come;  that 
the  Democratic  organization  was  now  torn  asunder; 
that  the  Whigs,  if  faithful  and  steadfast,  could  now 
erect  the  temple  of  their  own  domination  over  the 
ruins  of    that  of    lln-ir   old  antagonist.      They    had 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  439 

not  then  rightly  read  the  signs  of  the  times  and  were 
not  anticipating  the  Waterloo  which  was  to  over- 
whelm their  party,  nationally,  in  the  coming  Novem- 
ber. Prior  to  the  nomination  of  the  Whig  candidate, 
a  Whig  paper  had  said : 

"At  present,  Whig  temperance  men,  so  long  as  in  all 
probability  they  will  have  a  better  temperance  man  than 
Governor  Hubbard  presented  for  their  suffrages,  will  decline 
the  invitation  to  stultify  themselves  by  voting  for  the  latter." 

In  every  possible  way  the  Whig  leaders  endeavored 
to  prevent  temperance  Whigs  from  abandoning  the 
regnlar  Whig  nominee  to  support  Governor  Hubbard; 
Some  of  them  even  thought  it  worth  while  to 
picture  to  me  the  great  advantage  I  would  find,  both 
personally,  and  with  reference  to  the  cause,  by  help- 
ing the  Whigs  to  profit  by  the  division  of  their  polit- 
ical opponents.  Whenever  they  could  secure  them, 
temperance  men  of  Whig  proclivities,  justly  having  the 
confidence  of  Maine-Law  men,  were  brought  to  the 
front  in  conventions,  in  the  newspapers,  and  on  the 
stump  to  proclaim  their  intention  to  support  the  Whig 
candidate,  and  to  advise  all  other  temperance  Whigs 
in  the  name  of  their  party  to  do  the  same.  Noah 
Smith,  Jr. ,  of  Calais,  who  possessed  the  regard  of  the 
temperance  men  of  the  state  to  a  high  degree,  said  in 
the  Whig  nominating  convention  that  as  a  "  ramrod 
temperance  man  I  shall  support  the  nominee  of  this 
convention,  William  G.  Crosby."  One  Whig  paper 
said: 

"The  election  of  Governor  Hul^bard,  should  such  a  thing 
happen,  will  be  claimed,  and  rightfully  and  justly  too,  as  a 
political  victory  in  which  temperance  has  no  substantial  part. 

And  therefore,  no  temperance  editor  should  undertake 

to  enforce  upon  temperance  Whigs  the  propriety  of  voting 
for  him." 


440  EEMINISCENCES 

This  Tvas  in  reply  to  an  editorial  in  the  leading- 
AVhig  paper  in  Kennebec  county,  Governor  Hub- 
bard's home,  urging  temperance  Whigs  to  support 
the  Governor's  re-election.  In  addition  to  all  this, 
the  legislative  nominees  upon  the  Whig  ticket  were 
generally  friendly  to  the  Maine  Law. 

Democratic  leaders  were  none  the  less  alarmed. 
The  contending  factions  in  their  party  were  sure  to 
get  out  every  Democratic  vote  for  one  or  the  other  of 
the  two  Democratic  candidates,  both  of  w^honi  stood 
sciuarely  upon  the  Democratic  national  platform. 
The  combined  votes  for  these  two  candidates,  after 
the  election,  could  be  heralded  throughout  the 
country  as  indicative  of  public  sentiment  in  Maine 
upon  national  questions.  Nevertheless,  the  wise 
heads  among  the  Democratic  leaders,  foreseeing  the 
disastrous  results  of  division  upon  this  side  issue, 
entreated  their  followers  to  support  the  regular  nomi- 
nation. Said  one  of  their  papers,  referring  to  the 
possible  defeat  of  Governor  Hubbard  by  the  bolt 
against  him: 

"  No  sul)soqaent  exertion  or  triumph  could  atone  for  the 
folly  or  repair  the  mischief  occasioned  l)y  the  disaster." 

The  subsequent  story  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
Maine  proves  the  wisdom  of  that  prediction. 

Since  1840,  Maine  had  not  witnessed  such  a  struggle 
as  was  now  about  to  poll  the  largest  vote  that  had 
been  cast  in  the  state.  Never  in  the  history  of  Maine 
did  considerations  of  a  mere  party  character  have  so 
slight  an  effect  upon  the  masses  of  the  voters.  The 
leading  Whig  paper  said  the  morning  after  election: 

"The  Maine-Law  ((uestion  has  caused  such  a  deranirement 
of  parties  as  to  mai<e  it  ditlicult  to  draAV  any  conclusion  what- 
ever from  Uh;  votes  as  to  national   jjolitics." 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  441 

The  Democratic  party  was  hopelessly  divi<led. 
More  than  half  its  normal  vote  had  been  diverted 
to  a  bolting  candidate,  running  expressly  to  repu- 
diate what  a  Democratic  legislature  had  passed  and 
a  Democratic  governor  had  approved.  Indeed,  only 
four  times  since  Maine  became  a  state  had  a  united 
Democracy  cast  as  many  votes  as  the  disaffected 
Democrats  now  threw  for  the  ''anti-Maine  Law" 
candidate. 

The  effect  upon  the  Whig  party  varied  greatly  in 
different  sections  of  the  state.  In  Portland,  its  candi- 
date for  governor,  who  in  1850  had  carried  the  city 
with  a  vote  of  1,300,  by  nearly  200  majority,  received 
only  about  half  as  many,  while  Governor  Hubbard 
received  more  than  two  to  one  for  the  Whig  can- 
didate. Whigs  and  Free-Soilers  in  Portland  had 
deserted  their  candidates  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
much  more  than  make  good  the  Democratic  defection 
against  Hubbard,  amounting  to  fifty  per  cent  of  the 
normal  Democratic  vote.  In  fourteen  of  the  larger 
towns  of  the  state,  most  of  them  now  cities,  places 
where  the  enforcement  of  the  law  had  been  most 
marked  for  good,  Governor  HubbarcVs  vote  was 
increased  nearly  fifty  per  cent.  Nevertheless,  the 
Whig  party,  as  a  whole,  threw  about  its  usual  vote. 

Notwithstanding  the  formidable  bolt  against  him. 
Governor  Hubbard  received  more  votes  than  in  either 
year  in  which  he  had  been  elected  governor,  and  more 
than  any  successful  candidate  for  governor,  save  one, 
had  received  in  ten  years.  Though  he  lacked  a 
majority,  only  one  governor  had  received  a  larger 
plurality  than  that  now  secured  by  Governor  Hub- 
bard, which  was  over  forty  per  cent  greater  than 
that  given  him  in  either  of  his  prior  elections.     How- 


442  REMINISCENCES 

ever,  there  was  no  election  of  governor  by  the  people. 
There  was  nothing  specially  significant  about  that. 
Twice  within  ten  years  there  had  been  a  similar 
result.  But  an  overwhelming  majority  of  Maine-Law 
men  had  been  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  it  was 
believed  at  first  that  Governor  Hubbard  was  sure  of 
being  chosen  by  that  body. 

The  result,  under  the  circumstances,  was  a  most 
satisfactory  and  complete  popular  endorsement  of 
Prohibition.  Of  the  more  than  94,000  votes  cast,  over 
72,000  had  been  given  to  candidates  unequivocally 
committed  to  the  Maine  Law.  It  was  a  popular 
approval  of  that  policy  which  was  heeded  by  the 
politicians  of  all  parties  for  a  number  of  years. 

Whence  did  Governor  Hubbard's  large  vote  come  ? 
Ancient  history  now,  that  was  a  practical  question  of 
great  interest  then,  because  a  satisfactory  answer 
might  throw  some  light  upon  the  political  future  of 
the  state,  as  to  which  politicians  of  all  parties  were 
anxious.  In  the  first  place,  an  unusually  large  vote 
was  cast.  Only  in  1840  had  the  total  vote  of  Maine 
reached  90,000.  This  year  it  exceeded  that  figure  by 
more  than  8,000.  From  such  information  as  it  was 
possible  to  obtain,  and  from  estimates  and  compar- 
isons made,  it  was  concluded  that  the  vote  for 
Governor  Hub])ard  had  been  thrown  by  about  23,000 
Democrats,  6,500  Free-Soilers,  and  about  12,500  Whigs 
and  "stay-at-homes,"  or  men  who  rarely  voted.  Mr. 
Chandler,  the  anti-Maine  Law  candidate,  had  received 
nearly  22,000,  nine-tenths  from  the  Democratic  party. 

Without  attempting  to  be  exact  where  precision  was 
impossible,  it  was  estimated  that  about  four-ninths 
of  the  total  vote  had  been  thrown  with  sole  reference 
to  Prohibition,  by  its  friends  and  foes  combined.     It 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  443 

was  confidently  believed,  and  the  next  year  justified 
the  conviction,  that  among  the  23,000  Democrats  who 
voted  for  Governor  Hubbard  were  those  who  could  be 
relied  upon,  should  occasion  call,  to  sever  i)arty  ties 
and  sustain  the  Maine  Law.  It  was  understood,  of 
course,  that  the  bulk  of  the  Democratic  votes  for 
Governor  Hubbard  were  given  on  the  ground  that  he 
was  the  regular  candidate  of  that  party.  But  it  was 
also  true  that  many  Whig  and  Free-Soil  Prohibitionists 
preferred  to  support  the  regular  candidates  of  their 
own  parties,  both  of  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
committed  to  the  Maine  Law,  to  breaking  from  their 
political  associations. 

It  is  certain  that  the  votes  thrown  for  Mr.  Chandler 
represented  radical  opposition  to  the  policy  of  -Prohi- 
bition. With  so  large  a  body  of  determined  men  on 
the  one  side  and  the  other,  ready  to  subordinate  every 
ordinary  political  consideration  to  that  question,  it 
was  evident  that  Prohibition  had  come  into  politics 
and  was  likely  to  become  an  important  political  issue. 

The  reader  who  has  followed  this  story  has  not 
failed  to  see  that  Prohibition  was  forced  into  state 
politics  as  a  party  issue  by  its  opponents  rather  than 
by  its  friends.  Governor  Hubbard  was  entitled  by 
the  long-established  usage  of  his  party  to  renomina- 
tion.  His  ability,  his  character,  and  his  general 
personal  standing  were  such  that  no  objection  to  him 
could  be  urged  with  any  chance  of  success  upon  other 
grounds  than  his  approval  of  the  Maine  Law.  The 
presentation  of  his  name,  therefore,  for  a  third  elec- 
tion was  not  the  outcome  of  an  effort  on  the  part  of 
temperance  men  to  reward  him;  it  was  the  only 
course  open  to  Democrats,  unless  their  party  preferred 
to  array  itself  against  the  Maine  Law  by  refusing  to 


444  KEMINISCENCES 

the  Governor  ordinary  usage  by  way  of  punishment 
for  liis  approval  of  tliat  measure.  The  Democratic 
party,  as  an  organization,  declining  to  perpetrate  such 
folly,  the  licpior-element  in  it  assumed  the  responsi- 
bility. Said  one  Democratic  paper:  "They  loved  rum 
better  than  they  served  Democracy."  It  is  more  than 
probable  that,  but  for  that  defection,  the  future  of 
the  Democratic  party  in  Maine  would  have  been  quite 
otherwise  than  it  proved. 

The  grave  questions  of  national  weight  then  press- 
ing to  the  front  and  so  soon  to  cause  a  re-alignment  of 
political  parties,  would,  but  for  that  bolt,  have  found 
the  Democratic  party  in  control  in  Maine.  A  party 
thus  in  power,  armed  with  the  cohesive  and  attractive 
strengjbh  which  prestige  of  past  and  prospect  of  future 
success  always  carries  into  political  contests,  would 
have  proved  a  very  different  antagonist  from  that 
which  a  few  years  later  was  driven  into  a  long 
retirement  when  Hannibal  Hamlin  led  his  personal 
following  out  of  it  into  the  new  Republican  organiza- 
tion. The  skill,  the  courage,  ability,  and  integrity  of 
even  that  honored  and  popular  leader  would  have 
found  the  task  he  undertook  a  much  more  difficult 
one  but  for  the  "  breaking-up  plow  "  of  the  Maine-Law 
movement,  which  preceded  his  work  by  four  years 
and  heartily  co-operated  with  him  in  the  memorable 
campaign  of  185(5,  when  Maine,  for  the  first  time  after 
1840,  cast  her  electoral  vote  for  other  than  a  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  president. 

Wlien  Senator  Hamlin  undertook  the  work  he  so 
successfully  accomplished,  men  of  all  parties  in 
Maine  had  been  learning  in  the  school  of  the  Maine- 
Law  movement  that  the  sun  would  rise  and  set,  the 
moon  wax  and  wane,  and  the  stars  keep  on  in  their 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  445 

course  undisturbed,  though  regular  nominations  were 
"bolted"  and  the  old  leaders  thereby  hastened  to 
political  graves.  Until  such  a  lesson  was  learned  it 
would  have  proved  no  easy  undertaking  to  change  the 
combined  Democratic  majority  in  1852  of  over  33,000, 
into  a  Eepublican  majority  only  four  years  later,  of 
19,000.  In  1855,  before  Senator  Hamlin  left  it,  the 
Democratic  party  had  dropped  from  a  plurality  in 
1850  of  9,000,  into  a  minority  of  14,000. 

It  is  not  a  matter,  therefore,  for  great  surprise  that 
for  years  thereafter  the  Democratic  party  of  Maine 
looked  with  little  favor  on  the  Maine-Law  movement, 
or  on  anybody  or  anything  identified  with  it.  It  will 
not  be  regarded  as  egotism  to  say  that  for  years  my 
personality  was  the  great  hete  noire  of  the  Democratic 
leaders  in  Maine,  nor  a  matter  for  surprise  that  some 
of  our  papers  had  said  that  Democratic  babies  were 
terrorized  into  obedience  by  threats  of  the  suffering 
they  were  taught  to  dread  if  they  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  Neal  Dow. 

Yet,  as  we  have  seen,  whatever  of  disaster  in  the  first 
instance,  because  of  the  Maine-Law  movement,  came 
upon  that  party,  was  due  altogether  to  those  who 
sought  to  punish  Governor  Hubbard  for  approv- 
ing the  law.  Though  the  people  rallied  to  his  aid, 
as  under  similar  circumstances  they  had  never  sup- 
ported any  governor  before,  he  was  defeated,  and 
no  Democratic  candidate  for  governor  of  Maine  has 
been  elected  by  the  people  in  all  the  years  that  have 
followed.  ' '  Whom  the  gods  would  destroy,  they  first 
make  mad." 

The  legislature  elected  in  1852  was  composed,  in  the 
senate,  of  fourteen  Whigs  and  nine  Democrats,  there 
being  eight  vacancies ;  and  in  the  house,  of  sixty -two 


446  REMINISCENCES 

Whigs,  eighty-four  Democrats,  and  four  Free-Soilers, 
the  latter  being  of  Democratic  antecedents.  Under  a 
constitutional  provision  vacancies  in  the  senate  were 
filled  by  a  convention  of  the  senators-elect  with  the 
house  of  representatives,  and  in  the  case  of  a  failure 
to  choose  a  governor  by  popular  vote,  before  the  recent 
change  in  the  Constitution  providing  for  the  choice 
by  a  plurality,  the  house  selected  two  from  the  four 
highest  candidates  and  presented  them  to  the  senate, 
which  then  proceeded  to  the  choice  of  one  of  the  two 
for  governor.  Four  of  the  eight  vacancies  in  the 
senate  were  in  Cumberland  county,  and  the  temper- 
ance Whigs  and  Democrats  in  the  legislature  made  an 
arrangement  whereby  two  Maine-Law  Whigs  and  two 
Maine-Law  Democrats  were  elected  from  that  county. 
Irritated  by  this  action,  enough  Democrats  were  in- 
duced to  join  with  the  Whigs  to  enable  the  latter  to 
select  two  of  their  party  from  Waldo  county.  Thus 
four  Whigs  were  added  to  the  fourteen  chosen  by  the 
people,  making  the  full  senate  stand  eighteen  Whigs 
to  thirteen  Democrats. 

The  house,  as  we  have  seen,  had  a  clear  majority  of 
eighteen  Democrats,  and  it  was  competent,  therefore, 
to  send  to  the  senate  the  names  of  Hubbard  and 
Chandler,  both  Democrats.  This,  however,  would 
have  resulted  in  the  election  of  Hubbard  by  the 
senate.  To  prevent  this,  enough  of  the  anti-Hubbard 
Democrats  in  the  house  joined  with  the  Whigs  and 
sent  up  the  name  of  Crosby  with  that  of  Hubbard. 

There  were  three  Whig  senators  who  could  be 
relied  upon  to  vote  for  Hubbard,  as  they  had  been  so 
instructed  by  their  constituents,  and  had  pledged 
themselves  to  temperance  men  so  to  do.  This  would 
have  secured  his  election  had  none  of  the  Democratic 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  447 

senators  bolted.  If  the  Democrats  in  the  senate  had 
all  voted  for  Hubbard,  they,  with  the  three  pledged 
Whigs  who  did  vote  for  him,  would  have  given  him 
sixteen,  while  the  Whigs  could  have  controlled  but 
fifteen  for  Crosby.  But  the  two  Democratic  senators 
from  Governor  Dana's  county,  Oxford,  voted  with  the 
Whigs,  and  the  vote  stood  seventeen  for  Crosby  to 
fourteen  for  Hubbard.  Thus  the  Whig  candidate, 
over  twelve  thousand  below  Hubbard  on  the  popular 
vote,  was  elected  and  inaugurated  as  governor.  In 
this  way  the  friends  of  ex-Governor  Dana  resented 
Governor  Hubbard's  approval  of  a  law  the  same  in 
principle  and  similar  in  most  of  its  provisions  to  that 
vetoed  by  the  former.  To  gratify  the  resentment  of 
Governor  Dana  they  preferred  to  take  a  course  which, 
we  shall  see,  blasted  the  prospect  for  power  of  their 
party  in  Maine. 

The  Democratic  party  was  now  hors  du  combat.  It 
had  the  strength  in  the  legislature  to  have  elected 
Governor  Hubbard,  and  thus,  perhaps,  to  repair  its 
fallen  fortunes.  But  too  many  of  its  leaders  loved 
their  party  less  than  they  hated  Prohibition.  The 
leading  Democratic  paper  in  the  state,  a  few  months 
later,  referring  to  the  subject,  said: 

"It  (the  legislature)  began  its  first  session  with  a  Demo- 
cratic majority,  but  ended  with  a  Whig  governor  and  a  Whig 
senate.     It  was  not  temperance,  but  rum,  which  did  it." 

Thus  had  liquor  wrought  the  same  havoc  in  the 
Democratic  party  of  Maine  that  it  has  in  many 
another  once  united  family. 

It  was  generally  supposed  that  Governor  Crosby 
had  little  sympathy  with  Prohibition.  He  was  a  most 
admirable  gentleman,  and  there  was  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  he  would  not  be  heartily  glad  to  have 


448  REMINISCENCES 

society  relieved  of  the  incubus  of  the  liquor-traffic; 
but  he  disliked  excitement  and  agitation  of  every 
kind,  much  preferring  ease  and  quiet.  Prohibition 
was  sure  to  cause  great  discussion,  if  not  a  wrangle, 
and  all  such  controversy  was  foreign  to  his  nature. 
But,  however  that  may  be,  as  a  politician  of  the  old 
school  he  naturally  regarded  the  Maine  Law  with 
some  disfavor,  as  a  disturbing  element  in  the  politics 
of  the  state. 

In  his  inaugural  address,  Governor  Crosby,  in 
referring  to  the  subject  of  temperance,  said: 

<'In  enterino:  upon  a  new  year,  it  may  not  l)e  inappropriate 
to  call  to  mind  for  a  few  moments  the  year  which  is  past.  It 
has  been  an  eventful  one  in  the  history  of  our  own  state,  of 
the  Union,  and  the  civiHzed  world.  It  will  be  remembered  as 
the  year  in  which,  for  the  first  time  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
wdth  a  strong  w^ill,  the  strong  arm  of  a  sovereign  state  was 
stretched  forth  in  the  work  of  moral  reform  —  to  arrest  in  its 
midway  career  the  progress  of  the  moral  pestilence,  intemper- 
ance. Other  law^s  have  been  enacted  in  this  and  other  states, 
whose  object  and  tendency  were  to  impede  its  progress,  or 
confine  it  within  certain  defined  limits  :  but  it  remained  for 
the  state  of  Maine  to  erect,  by  legislative  enactments  which 
in  the  hope  and  faith  of  those  who  framed  them,  could  be 
neither  avoided  nor  evaded,  a  barrier  beyond  which  it  was  not 
to  pass 

"I  am  not  aware  that  any  further  legislation  upon  the 
subject  is  contemj)lated.  If  it  is,  I  can  only  invite  you  to 
give  it  the  calm  and  delil)crate  consideration  to  wdiich  a 
subject  matter  of  such  magnitude,  involving  principles  so 
important  and  conse(iuences  so  momentous — the  moral  wel- 
fare and  civil  rights  of  the  people  —  is  entitled.  But  I  would 
here,  as  elsewhere,  in  the  name  of  humanity,  forl)id  the  banns 
between  temperance  and  religious  sect  or  political  party." 

The  last  sentence  in  the  ciuotation  from  his  address 
was  speedily  turned  upon  him,  to  his  great  annoyance 
and  discomfiture.  A  state  temperance  convention 
assembled  soon  after  in  Augusta,  which  included  in 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  449 

its  membersliip  many  connected  with  the  legislature. 
In  it  I  offered  the  following  resolution: 

"Resolved,  That  the  banns  be  forbidden  between  rum  and 
religion  and  politics  of  every  party  and  every  sect,  and,  in 
the  name  of  God  and  humanity,  that  a  union  be  proclaimed, 
holy  and  indissoluble,  of  aftection  as  well  as  of  necessity, 
between  temperance,  religion,  and  politics  of  every  party  and 
of  every  sect." 

The  resolution,  which  was  passed  unanimously  amid 
shouts  of  approval  by  the  convention,  was  afterward 
copied  and  commented  upon  extensively  throughout 
the  state  as  a  fair  hit  at  the  Governor.  It  was  not 
to  be  supposed  that  one  who  had  been  the  leader  of 
a  great  party  in  two  campaigns  would  notice  the 
matter  at  all,  save  to  smile  at  it  as  a  fair  retort,  but  I 
was  told  that  it  was  the  innocent  cause  of  no  little  ill 
feeling  on  the  part  of  "His  Excellency." 

The  legislative  committee  to  which  that  part  of  the 
Governor's  message  was  referred,  of  which,  by  the 
way,  Noah  Smith,  of  Calais,  who  reported  the  original 
Maine  Law,  was  again  chairman  on  the  part  of  the 
house,  subsequently  reported  some  amendments  to  the 
law.  I  make  the  following  extracts  from  the  report 
which  accompanied  the  bill: 

"  That  they  fully  respond  to  the  declaration  in  the  address 
*  That  the  people  of  the  state  demand  a  Jaw  sufficiently 
stringent  to  close  effectually  every  haunt  of  intemperance 
within  its  borders,  is  undeniably  true';  they  also  feel  that  it 
is  justly  a  subject  of  congratulation  that  the  state  of  Maine 
should  be  the  Jirst  community  '  to  erect  by  legislative  enact- 
ments which  in  the  hope  and  faith  of  those  who  framed  them 
could  be  neither  avoided  nor  evaded,  a  barrier  beyond  which 
intemperance  was  not  to  pass.'  It  has  been  the  object  of  the 
committee,  in  preparing  the  act  which  they  now  sul3mit,  fully 
to  sustain  the  honor  of  the  state  in  being  the  first  of  the  sister 
states  to  enact  an  efficient  law  for  the  purpose  so  indicated. 
The  great  principle  of  the  act  of  1851,  which  they 


450  KEMINISCENCES 

regard  as  a  discovery  in  legislation,  as  applied  to  this  subject, 
that  will  redound  to  the  lasting  honor  of  its  author  —  that  is, 
the  seizing  by  the  strong  hand  of  the  law,  and  destroying  by 
the  order  of  the  court  the  great  agent  of  the  mischief — they 
have  designed  scrupulously  to  preserve.  It  may  truly  be 
said  to  l)e  a  discovery  in  legislation  on  this  subject. 

"  The  ol)ject  of  this  law  is  not  to  dictate  to  men  '  what  they 
shall  eat  and  what  they  shall  drink,  or  wherewithal  they  shall 
be  clothed.'  These  are  not  matters  for  which  in  themselves 
legislation  is  fitted,  although  in  practice  in  all  ages  legislation 
has  been  more  or  less  devoted  to  such  objects.  They  are  in 
themselves  better  let  alone  by  law-makers,  Avho  are  justified 
in  interfering  with  them  only  when  from  their  abuses  the 
public  is  a  sufferer 

"  They  declare  that,  in  their  opinion,  the  first  article  of  the 
bill  of  rights  in  our  constitution  is  the  basis  upon  which  this 
legislation  is  rightfully  built.  Among  the  rights  therein 
declared  to  be  inalienable,  which  can  never  be  parted  with, 
are  those  of  enjoying  and  defending  life  and  liberty,  acquir- 
ing, possessing  and  protecting  property,  and  of  '  pursuing  and 

olitaining  safety  and  happiness.' This  evil  attacks  the 

constitution  and  Ijill  of  rights  in  the  very  threshold  of  the 
temple  of  liberty,  and  there  it  should  be  met,  resisted  and 
overthrown." 

All  the  proposed  amendments  to  the  law  submitted 
were  declared  by  the  committee,  and  were  so  regarded 
by  the  friends  of  Prohibition,  to  be  in  the  line  of 
increased  efficiency,  and  such  as  experience  had  shown 
to  be  desirable  to  carry  out  the  popular  will  as 
expressed  in  the  law  and  the  elections. 

In  the  discussion  in  the  house,  ex-Speaker  Sewall, 
who  had  voted  "no "  on  the  question  of  the  passage  of 
the  original  Maine  Law,  announced  himself  as  favor- 
able to  the  amendments,  but  as  desiring  to  submit  the 
law  as  thus  amended  to  the  people.  In  a  speech  he  is 
reported  to  have  said : 

"I  shall  vote  for  the  bill  whether  referred  or  not.  I 
believe  a  majority  of  this  house  are  in  favor  of  the  Maine 
Law  ;  I  believe  four-fifths  of  the  people  will  vote  for  the  law 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  451 

if  submitted  to  them.  If  so,  the  law  Avill  ])o  iiioie  liruily 
established  than  ever,  as  firmly  almost  as  the  constitution 
itself.  If  rejected,  no  one  will  wish  to  have  the  law  stand 
on  the  statute-book,  for  no  law  cau  be  long  enforced  in 
opposition  to  a  majority  of  the  })eople." 

While  tlie  matter  was  under  consideration  it  was 
said  that  the  election  of  nine-tenths  of  the  members  of 
that  legislature  had  turned  upon  the  question  of  the 
Maine  Law.  Mr.  Freeman  H.  Morse,  who  three  years 
later  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  who  was  subse- 
quently for  years  United  States  Consul  at  London, 
England,  was  a  member  of  the  house  from  Bath.  In 
the  course  of  the  debate  upon  the  amendments  he 
said: 

"This  law  has  been  passed  and  in  operation  for  some 
years,  and  the  people  have  virtually  passed  upon  it  repeat- 
edly. I  am  satisfied  that  a  large  majority  of  the  people  of 
the  state  are  in  favor  of  it." 

William  Pitt  Fessenden  was  a  representative  from 

Portland.     He  said: 

"The  proposition  to  refer  these  amendments  to  the  people 
is  unfriendly  to  the  bill.  It  involves  the  whole  question  of 
the  Maine  Law.  The  people  have  in  their  primary  elections 
expressed  their  views  upon  it.  If  after  all  this  we  should 
send  it  back  to  the  people  as  thouoh  we  did  not  know  what 
they  wanted,  they  may  well  say  we  are  very  stupid  indeed  if 
we  do  not  know  what  they  desire,  alter  being  told  so  many 
times." 

The  proposition  to  submit  the  law  to  the  people  was 
voted  down  in  the  house  by  yeas,  56 ;  nays,  83,  and  the 
bill  was  passed  to  be  enacted  by  a  vote  of  94  to  43. 
Politically  classified,  49  Whigs,  41  Democrats,  and  4 
Free-Soilers  voted  for  the  bill;  39  Democrats,  and  4 
Whigs  against  it.  In  the  senate  the  bill  was  passed, 
20  yeas,  6  nays,  classified  politically,  yeas,  13  Whigs, 
7  Democrats;   nays,  6  Democrats.     The  amended  law^ 


452  REMINISCENCES    OF   KEAL   DOAV. 

Tvas  approved  by  Governor  Crosby,  March  31,  1853. 

At  the  adjournment  of  the  legislature  of  1853  it 
may  be  said  that  the  Maine  Lavr,  having  demon- 
strated ita  efficiency  and  run  the  gauntlet  of  a 
state  election  and  a  legislative  session,  in  which  its 
strength  with  the  people  at  the  polls  and  their 
representatives  in  the  legislature  had  been  clearly 
manifested,  was  more  popular  than  ever.  Its  friends 
had  every  reason  to  be  confident  as  to  its  future. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


EXTENSIVE     SPEAKING     TOUKS   IN    BEHALF   OF     PROHIBITION. 

SOME    OF    THE    TERRITORY    COVERED.       INCIDENTS 

AND   EXPERIENCES    CONNECTED 

THEREWITH. 


After  the  Maine  September  election  of  1852,  my 
time  was  largely  occupied,  up  to  January,  1853,  in  a 
speaking  tour.  I  addressed  many  meetings  in  Massa- 
chusetts, where  an  agitation  for  a  prohibitory  law  was 
in  progress.  Among  my  coadjutors  there  was  Rev. 
John  L.  Stevens,  from  Maine.  Mr.  Stevens  was  then 
a  Universalist  clergyman.  Shortly  afterward  poor 
health  compelled  him  to  leave  the  ministry,  and  he 
became  an  active  Republican  politician.  He  was,  I 
think,  the  first  chairman  of  the  state  committee  of 
that  party.  For  many  years  he  was  a  personal  friend 
and  political  confidant  of  James  G.  Blaine.  He 
received  several  diplomatic  appointments,  the  last 
being  that  of  minister  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

I  filled  a  series  of  engagements  in  New  Jersey, 
many  of  them  large  meetings.  One,  however,  perhaps 
the  most  important,  was  comparatively  private,  by 
special  appointment,  in  Jersey  City,  where  every 
clergyman  of  the  place  was  in  attendance,  enabling 


30 


454  REMINISCENCES 

me  to  present  the  subject  of  Prohibition  to  them  more 
comprehensively  than  possible  in  a  speech  to  a  popular 
gathering. 

While  in  New  Brunswick,  I  received  a  note  of 
which  the  following  is  a  copy: 

To  THE  Hon.  Neal  Dow. 

Dear  Sir:  —  The  undersia-ned,  desirous  to  obtain  reliable 
information  in  regard  to  the  practical  operation  of  the  prohibi- 
tory anti-liquor  law,  respectfully  request  you  to  address  them 
on  the  subject,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  church,  at  5  o'clock 
p.  M.,  October  20th. 

This  was  signed  by  over  fifty  of  the  clergymen  in 
attendance  upon  the  Presbyterian  Synod,  then  in  ses- 
sion in  that  city.  Among  them  were  Theodore  L. 
Cuyler,  then  a  comparatively  young  man.  Rev.  Dr. 
John  McLean,  N.  Murray,  D.  D.,  D.  Magie,  D.  D., 
Charles  Hodge,  D.  D.,  C.  Van  Rensellaer,  D.  D.,  J. 
C.  Watson,  D.  D.,  Jos.  L.  Sliafer,  D.  D.,  R.  Baird,  D. 
D.,  C.  W.  Nassau,  D.  D.,  and  P.  O.  Studdiford,  D.  D. 

I  was  unable  to  accept  the  invitation  because  of 
other  engagements.  Quite  a  number  of  the  clergy, 
however,  left  the  session  of  the  synod  to  attend 
my  meetings,  and  after  the  close  of  my  speech  several 
came  to  me  and  gave  their  adhesion  to  the  movement 
for  Prohibition,  being  kind  enough  to  say  that  they 
now  saw  the  matter  in  a  different  light. 

During  my  stay  in  Trenton,  I  was  the  guest  of  Rev. 
Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  as  was  frequently  my  good 
fortune  afterwards.  My  acquaintance  with  Mr. 
Cuyler  has  been  maintained  for  many  years,  and 
though  latterly  it  has  lacked  somewhat  of  its  early 
intimacy,  time  has  served  to  increase  the  high  esteem 
for  him  with  which  I  was  inspired  when  he  was  a 
comparatively  young  man.  Now,  full  of  years,  uni- 
versally loved  and  respected  by  those  who  know  him 


or  NEAL  DOW.  455 

personally  or  by  reputation,  lie  looks  back  upon  a 
long  and  useful  life,  during  all  of  which  he  has  been 
careful  that  the  influence  of  his  voice  and  example 
should  be  upon  the  side  of  right.  Nothing  that  I  can 
say  of  commendation  of  him  can  add  to  the  honor 
which  is  his  due.  He  has  had  the  courage  of  his  con- 
victions, and  has  dared  to  maintain  them  under 
circumstances  where  many  would  have  thought  it 
better  to  bow  to  the  public  opinion  of  the  time  and 
place  with  which  they  were  in  conflict.  Who  can 
mark  the  limits  beyond  which  the  beneficent  power  of 
such  a  life  will  not  reach  ?  He  was  my  frequent  com- 
panion in  the  early  "fifties"  in  speaking  tours,  and 
his  association  with  me  did  much  to  render  delight- 
ful otherwise  wearisome  journeys,  while  he  always 
instructed  and  charmed  the  audiences  he  addressed. 
While  in  New  Jersey,  I  received  a  communication 
from  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives  of 
Vermont,  transmitting  an  invitation  to  address  that 
body  in  Eepresentatives'  Hall,  at  Montpelier,  which  I 
subsequently  did.  In  Rochester,  New  York,  where  I 
spoke  several  times,  I  saw  some  large  campaign  flags 
thrown  across  the  street,  inscribed  with  such  mottoes 
as,  "Neal  Dow  and  the  Maine  Law,"  "Neal  Dow, 
Temperance,  and  the  Maine  Law."  These  were  some- 
what annoying  to  me,  and  during  my  stay  I  took  pains 
to  avoid  passing  them  on  the  street.  It  was  there,  I 
think,  that  for  the  first  time  I  realized  that  my  name 
was  becoming  known  outside  of  my  own  state.  I 
began  to  see  that  a  measure  devised  simply  as  a  more 
efficient  instrument  for  use  in  the  immediate  field  of 
my  own  official  work  in  the  little  community  where 
I  resided  was  attracting  an  attention  in  the  country  at 
large  that  I  had  never  anticipated  when  I  was  pre- 


456  KEMINISCENCES 

paring  it  and  urging  its  passage  by  the  legislature  of 
my  own  state. 

I  spoke  in  several  other  large  places  in  New  York. 
Returning  thence  to  Massachusetts,  I  found  most  of 
the  stores  and  other  public  places  draped  in  black,  the 
state  being  in  mourning  for  Daniel  Webster.  This 
was  in  November,  but  a  few  days  after  the  national 
election,  in  which  the  Whig  banner  in  the  hands  of 
General  Scott,  whose  nomination  was  so  severe  a  blow 
to  Webster,  went  down  in  the  political  gale  that  swept 
his  party  out  of  existence. 

Early  in  January,  1853,  I  again  left  Maine  in 
response  to  demands  for  my  services  elsewhere. 
It  was  impossible,  however,  for  me  to  respond  to 
one  in  ten  of  the  many  pressing  invitations  I  received. 
These  came  from  all  over  the  New  England  and 
Central  states,  from  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin, 
Kentucky,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Louisiana  and  Ala- 
bama. Visits  to  the  two  latter  states  were  postponed 
for  ten  years,  when  they  were  made  under  other 
auspices  and  for  another  purpose  than  that  for  which 
I  was  now  invited. 

During  this  tour  I  addressed  a  committee  of  the 
legislature  of  New  York  in  Representatives'  Hall  at 
Albany,  which  was  crowded.  I  remember  the  occa- 
sion well,  as  before  I  rose  to  speak  I  had  a  severe 
attack  of  stage-fright  which  for  a  time  I  thought 
would  paralyze  me.  This  was  a  matter  of  great  sur- 
prise to  me,  for  I  had  long  before  overcome,  as  I 
supposed,  all  difficulty  of  that  kind.  It  passed  away, 
however,  immediately  when  I  commenced  to  speak. 

A  day  or  two  after,  I  was  a  guest  at  a  large  party  in 
Albany,  given  by  a  wealthy  and  prominent  citizen, 
whose  name  I  am  unable  to  recall.     Here  I  met,  for 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  457 

the  first  time,  Horatio  Seymour,  then  governor.  He 
was  polite  enough  to  manifest  some  interest  in  the 
subject  of  the  Maine  Law,  flattering  enough  to  com- 
pliment me  on  my  speech  before  the  legislative 
committee,  and  adroit  enough  to  give  me  no  inkling 
of  his  personal  views  upon  the  subject.  Subsequently 
he  vetoed  a  prohibitory  bill. 

In  Albany  I  was  the  recipient  of  much  attention 
from  many  prominent  citizens.  In  my  letters  home  I 
referred  to  this  as  a  gratifying  indication  of  the  great 
change  in  public  sentiment  relating  to  temperance. 
I  quote  from  a  letter  written  to  my  wife,  under  date 
of  January  23,  1853,  relative  to  my  first  interview  with 
a  leader  in  that  movement  for  woman  which  was  then 
a  wonder  to  most  and  a  delusion  to  many,  but  which 
in  its  present  development  bears  grand  testimony  to 
the  progress  of  the  past  fifty  years.     I  wrote: 

"  I  had  also  a  call  from  Miss  Susan  B.  Anthony,  a  woman's 
rights  lady,  and  a  bloomer.  I  was  not  in,  l)ut  returned  her 
call,  and  found  her  a  modest,  sensible  lady,  of  no  particular 
age,  dressed  elegantly,  tastefully  and  modestly,  in  moderate 
bloomer  costume,  black  silk  skirt  nearly  to  the  ankles, 
pantalets  of  the  same,  and  elegant  boots  fitting  a  pretty  foot 
like  a  glove." 

After  several  speeches  in  the  northern  part  of  New 
York,  I  went  to  New  Jersey.  At  Trenton,  I  was  the 
recipient  of  a  large  silver  pitcher,  beautifully  embel- 
lished. The  presentation  speech  was  made  by  my 
friend.  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler.  Returning  to 
Philadelphia,  I  addressed  a  very  large  meeting  in 
that  city,  and  dined,  at  her  invitation,  with  Lucretia 
Mott.  Thence  I  went  to  Baltimore  to  speak,  where  I 
received  from  Annapolis  an  invitation  to  address  the 
Maryland  legislature,  also  one  from  Harrisburg  to 
speak  before  that  of  Pennsylvania.     While  on  tliis 


458  EEMINISCENCES 

tour  I  was  followed  by  many  invitations,  by  mail  and 

wire,  to  speak  in  different  states,  and  accepted  enough 

of  them  to  occupy  much  of  my  time  for  the  year. 

During  this  trip  I  stopped  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa. ,  where 

I  was  in  receipt  of  the  following  communication: 

"  Pittsburgh,  February  2,   1853. 
Hex.  Neal  Dow,  Late  Mayor  of  Portland,  Me. 

ii /Sir:  —  Properly  appreciating  your  lal)ors  and  your  sac- 
rifices in  the  great  cause  of  temperance,  and  desirous  of 
paying  respect  to  you  as  the  author  of  what  we  deem  the  only 
effectual  legislation  for  suppressing  the  giant  evils  of  intem- 
perance —  the  Maine  liquor  law  —  we  would  respectfully 
invite  you  to  accept  a  public  dinner,  at  such  time  as  may  suit 
your  convenience,  that  the  friends  of  temperance  may  have  an 
opportunity  of  showing  that  respect  w^hich  they  desire  to  one 
to  whom  our  whole  country  is  so  much  indebted." 

This  bore  some  forty  signatures,  among  which  were 
C.  L.  Magee,  James  K.  Morange,  3^.  H.  Foster,  D.  W. 
Miller,  William  Barrows,  J.  M.  Kirkpatrick. 

My  reply  was  as  follows: 

MoNONGAHELA  HousE,  PITTSBURGH,  February  3. 

Gentlemen:  —  Your  polite  note  of  the  2d  inst.  is  just 
received,  inviting  me  to  a  public  dinner,  which  you  propose 
to  tender  to  me  as  a  mark  of  regard  (as  you  are  pleased  to 
say)  for  my  labors  in  the  temperance  cause.  I  am  very  much 
obliged  for  this  token  of  your  esteem,  but  beg  leave  to 
decline,  as  I  cannot  conveniently  remain  in  Pittsburgh,  and 
because  my  tastes  and  inclinations  lead  me  to  avoid  scenes  of 
public  ceremony  and  display  as  far  as  possil)le. 

My  labors  in  the  temperance  cause,  of  which  you  are 
pleased  to  speak,  have  been  of  a  humble  character,  and  were 
dictated  solely  by  the  desire  to  promote  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  my  countrymen.  If  the  course  of  law  which 
has  been  adopted  in  Maine  in  regard  to  the  protection  of  her 
citizens  from  the  traffic  in  strong  drinks,  prevail  throughout 
the  country  — as  I  believe  it  will  eventually  —  the  prosperity 
of  the  nation,  and  the  wealth  and  happiness  of  the  people, 
will  be  promoted  to  an  extent  of  which  history  furnishes  no 
parallel. 

Permit  me  to  exhort  the  temperance  men  of  the  Keystone 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  459 

state  to  a  patient  perseverance  in  their  effort  to  procure  the 
enactment  of  a  prohibitory  law  for  the  effectual  protection  of 
themselves  and  children  from  the  terrible  effects  of  the  traffic. 
Thus  they  will  certainly  succeed. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  very  respectfully  and  truly  your  friend, 

Neal  Dow. 

Returning  home,  I  found  that  some  of  our  friends 
who  felt  that  the  municipal  contest  in  the  previous 
year  had  been  controlled  by  fraudulent  votes  were 
insisting  that  I  should  again  be  nominated  by  the 
Whigs  for  mayor.  The  managers  of  that  party  were 
naturally  averse  to  this.  There  were  two  reasons 
operating  among  them.  There  were  some,  of  course, 
who  were  earnestly  opposed  either  to  me,  to  the  cause 
with  which  my  name  was  identified,  to  the  Maine 
Law,  for  which  they  held  me  responsible,  or  to  my 
way  of  enforcing  it,  which  they  deemed  especially 
obnoxious. 

To  the  arguments  based  upon  such  considerations 
used  in  opposition  to  my  nomination,  they  had 
another  of  a  strictly  political  character.  I  had  again 
forfeited,  so  they  said,  all  claim  to  recognition  as  a 
Whig.  I  had  supported  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
governor,  Hubbard,  at  the  state  election  the  fall 
before.  They  did  me  the  honor  to  attribute  to  me 
the  leadership  of  that  half  of  the  Whig  party  of  Port- 
land which  went  over  to  the  Democratic  camp  on  that 
occasion.  Opposition  to  me  of  this  sort,  however, 
was  largely  confined  to  that  element  of  the  party 
which  had  opposed  my  first  nomination  and  election, 
and  which  supported  in  a  body  the  election  of  the 
Democratic  candidate  in  the  spring  of  1852.  These, 
however,  were  now  reinforced  by  another  contingent 
from  among  those  party  men  who  held  Whig  success 
at  the  polls  to  be  of  paramount  importance,  and  who, 


460  REMINISCENCES 

with  the  memory  of  my  defeat  the  year  before  in 
mind,  thought  it  would  be  bad  policy  politically  to 
put  me  in  nomination  again. 

These  leaders,  aware  that  they  had  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  party  to  deal  with,  had  no  hope  that  they 
could  control  the  ward  primaries  against  me.  They 
knew,  also,  by  experience,  that  if  my  name  was  pre- 
sented for  endorsement  by  a  nominating  convention 
in  the  usual  way,  they  would  find  it  difiicult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  induce  the  mass-meeting  to  refuse  ratifi- 
cation, and  it  began  to  look  to  them  as  if  they  must 
expose  their  own  weakness  in  the  ward  caucuses  or 
submit  to  my  nomination  without  opposition. 

Finally  they  decided  to  change  the  method  of  mak- 
ing the  nomination  by  calling  a  mass-meeting  in  City 
Hall,  to  name  a  candidate  without  the  intervention 
of  the  ward  primaries,  and  a  delegate  convention  to 
suggest  a  name.  There  were  those  among  my  friends 
who  said  that  this  method  was  chosen  because  it 
would  be  easier  to  conceal  in  a  general  mass  caucus 
those  having  no  right  to  participate  in  Whig  prima- 
ries than  would  be  the  case  in  ordinary  ward  meetings. 
However  that  may  have  been,  there  was  a  lively 
time  when  the  mass-meeting  assembled.  Of  the  many 
encounters  that  old  battle-ground  had  witnessed  that 
which  now  followed  upon  the  call  of  the  Whig  com- 
mittee was  the  most  exciting. 

The  Democratic  daily,  which  may  be  supposed  to 
have  been  fairly  impartial  between  the  rival  Whig 
factions,  certainly  with  no  leaning  toward  me,  said: 

"  The  hall  was  jammed  and  crowded  to  excess,  and  it  was 
the  richest,  the  funniest,  the  noisiest  muss  that  ever  congre- 
gated in  this  city. 

"The  Whig  party  is  divided  into  two  great  factions  —  the 
Dowitcs  and  anti-Dowites,  or,  as  they  arecalled  at  Augusta, 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  461 

the  Ramrods  and  Scheidam  Schnapps.  These  two  forces  have 
been  for  more  than  a  week  preparing  for  a  pitched  battle. 
The  former  have  the  advantage  of  a  perfect  interior  organiza- 
tion, and  a  large  body  of  active,  restless,  fearless  young  men 
to  give  vigor  and  life  to  that  organization.  They  have  their 
strength  marked  and  numbered,  and  when  the  word  '  Go  ! ' 
is  given,  they  all  go  it  together 

"The  chairman  made  a  few  conciliatory  remarks,  and 
promised  to  do  the  fair  thing.  No  sooner,  however,  had  he 
stopped,  and  before  he  could  get  seated,  than  uj)  rose 
Augustus  Robinson,  with  a  resolution  nominating  Neal  Dow. 
This  was  received  with  a  commingled  storm  of  cheers,  hisses, 
groans,  clappings,  stampings,  and  yells  for  various  nota])Ies. 

"  Josiah  S.  Little  finally  got  the  stand,  and  made  a  non- 
commital  speech.  He  was  friendly  to  everything  and  every- 
body —  wanted  a  man  nominated  who  would  carry  forward 
the  most  harmoniously  the  great  cause  of  temperance,  which 
he  had  deeply  at  heart,  and  closed  by  saying  that  he  had  been 
requested  to  suggest  the  name  of  James  B.  Gaboon. 

"  Mr.  Garter  then  took  the  stand  and  moved  that  the 
resolution  be  amen'ded  by  striking  out  Mr.  Dow's  name  and 
substituting  that  of  Mr.  Gaboon.  On  this  there  was  a 
miniature  hurricane  —  No  !  —  Yes  !  —  Oh  !  —  Ah  !  —  Hurrah 
for  Ga  —  Dow  !  Three  cheers  for  Dow  —  hoon  !  Our  friend, 
however,  waited  with  a  calm  and  benignant  expression  upon 
his  countenance  until  the  waves  had  subsided,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  define  his  position.  He  had  stood  by  Dow  for  two 
years,  but  last  spring  the  Whigs  had  been  most  awfully 
broken  down  by  him.  It  was  necessary  to  resuscitate  the 
dead  Whig  party  with  a  new  man.  Dow,  if  nominated, 
would  not  stand  one  chance  in  a  hundred.  He  will  be 
beaten.  (Not  Yes!  Good!  'Taint  true!  Hurrah  for 
Gaboon  !  Hurrah  for  Dow  ! )  Even  Elder  Peck  will  not  say 
otherwise.  Who  are  the  men  most  active  for  Dow?  Tem- 
perance Democrats  !  We  are  grateful  for  their  kind  interest, 
but  we  can  do  without  them. 

"  Finally,  Mr.  Walton  got  the  floor  and  was  allowed  to 
talk  about  three  minutes.  He  glorified  Mr.  Dow  and  said  he 
had  known  him  from  his  youth.  He  had  traveled  with  him 
into  the  country  villages,  lectured  with  him  in  behalf  of  the 
great  cause  of  temperance,  and  averred  that  he  was  rever- 
enced by  thousands  all  over  the  land.  Mr.  Dow  was  opposed 
last  spring  by  some  good  men,  but  he  was  beaten  by  the 
scrapings  of  h — I.      This  settled  John's  coffee.      The  yells 


462  KEMIXISCENCES 

and  uproar  sounded  as  though  the  place  he  mentioned  had 
])roken  loose.  All  hands,  and  feet,  and  throats  were  engaged 
in  the  enterprise  of  putting  John  down.  He  looked,  how- 
ever, as  though  he  wouldn't,  but  he  did ;  for  as  soon  as  he 
opened  his  li})s,  the  shouts  recommenced. 

"John  Neal  next  stood  before  the  audience.  He  said 
that,  like  his  friend,  Walton,  he  had  known  Neal  Dow  from 
his  youth,  and  had  suftered  from  his  knowledge  !  This  was 
as  far  as  the  Dowites  would  let  him  go,  and  the  history  of  his 
sufferings  remained  an  untold  tale.  Neal  trod  up  and  down 
the  stage,  in  expressive  pantomime,  with  a  dogged  persever- 
ance. He  looked  pleasant  and  cross,  cheerful  and  sad, 
supi)liant  and  defiant,  tragical  and  comical.  But  the  people 
only  laughed  and  hissed,  and  cheered  and  roared  the  more. 
He  yielded  at  last  to  the  mighty  surge  of  the  popular  breeze, 
and  l)owed  his  head  and  retired. 

"  The  vote  on  the  amendment  was  finally  taken  by  hand. 
We  judged  the  Dowites  had  it  two  to  one,  but  we  saw  some 
on  l)oth  sides  hold  up  all  the  hands  they  had.  The  chair 
remained  in  a  state  of  puzzle,  and  could  not  decide.  An 
adjournment  was  moved.  It  was  a  tie,  said  the  chair  —  and 
the  chair  was  more  puzzled  than  ever.  The  chair,  by  the 
way,  has  been  through  a  good  many  political  scenes,  l)ut  he 
was  never  in  so  tight  a  place  before  —  and  he  has  made  up  his 
mind  never  to  be  again.  He  did  not  come  out  so  well  as  he 
went  in,  hardly. 

"An  adjournment  was  again  called,  and  pronounced  car- 
ried, l)oth  parties  being  willing  to  have  it  so  terminate.  Thus 
the  Whigs  here  are,  for  the  first  time  in  their  political  history, 
without  a  nominee." 

The  Whig  paper,  the  editor  of  which,  my  good  and 
valued  friend  Judge  Carter,  participated  in  the  meet- 
ing as  an  "  Anti,"  said  : 

"  The  hall  was  more  densely  crowded   than  we   ever  saw  it 

before The  chair  finally  called  for  a  show   of  hands, 

and  up  went  a  cloud  of  hands  on  both  sides,  the  chairman 
declaring  that  it  was  utterly   impossible    for   him  to  decide 

which  were  the   more  munerous Both  sides  appeared 

satisfied  to  call  it  a  draw  game." 

The  Whigs  having  thus  failed  to  nominate  a  candi- 
date for  mayor,  a  citizens'  meeting  was  called  for  that 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  463 

purpose.  Its  nominee,  ex-Mayor  James  B.  Calioon,  a 
most  estimable  citizen,  who  was  declared  to  be  and 
who  was  a  true  friend  of  the  Maine  Law,  was  elected. 
More  than  three  hundred  voters,  nevertheless,  sup- 
ported me  at  the  polls  without  consultation  with  me 
or  organization  among  themselves. 

The  month  of  May  found  me  in  Rhode  Island.  At 
Providence,  I  was  the  guest  of  Amos  C.  Barstow,  then, 
I  think,  mayor.  My  acquaintance  and  friendship 
with  this  most  admirable  man  continued  as  long  as  he 
lived.  We  frequently  visited  each  other's  homes,  and 
often  corresponded  upon  the  subject  in  which  he,  like 
myself,  took  a  deep  interest,  and  upon  other  topics 
as  well. 

I  wrote  from  the  library,  State  House,  Albany, 
under  date  of  May  26,  1853: 

"I  stop  here  at  the  Delevan  House,  where  are  many  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature,  which  is  now  in  session,  and  who 
recognized  me,  as  I  addressed  them  on  the  Maine  Law  last 
winter.  Nothing,  probably,  will  be  done  this  session  about 
the  law,  but  it  will  eventually  be  enacted.  I  left  home  with 
great  reluctance  at  this  time.  It  was  with  the  feeling  that 
home  duties  really  required  me  to  stay,  but  I  could  not  decline 
the  calls  from  abroad,  in  fact,  I  begin  to  see  that  I  am  not  now 
at  liberty  to  consult  my  own  interests.  What  the  event  or  re- 
sults of  my  tour  will  be  I  cannot  foresee,  but  hope  good  will 
be  done." 

While  resting  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  it  becoming 
known  that  I  was  in  the  city,  I  was  beseiged  with 
callers  at  my  hotel  who  induced  me  to  stop  and  speak. 
Our  friends  insisted  that  my  presence  in  Cleveland 
was  providential,  because  the  question  of  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  Sunday  liquor-traffic  was  at  the  time 
before  the  city  council. 

On  my  way  west  I  had  stopped  in  Buffalo,  New 


464  KEMIXISCENCES 

York,  where  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  was 
in  session.  I  attended  one  of  their  meetings,  and  was 
introduced  to  many  clergymen  and  representative  lay- 
men. It  was  a  source  of  gratification  to  me  that  the 
asf^embly  adoi^ted  a  resolution  endorsing  temperance 
and  the  Maine  Law.  I  wrote  home  at  the  time  that 
such  action  on  the  part  of  so  conservative  a  body  was 
gratifying  evidence  of  the  great  change  in  public 
opinion. 

In  Michigan,  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  Prohi- 
bition, which  had  been  submitted  to  a  popular  vote, 
was  under  discussion.  The  state  was  alive  with 
meetings  relative  to  it.  I  filled  a  long  list  of  appoint- 
ments.    From  Adrian,  I  wrote,  June  15,  1853: 

"  I  am  in  a  constant  hurry,  and  always  fatigued  —  two 
meetings  every  day  and  the  traveling  to  do  besides,  often  in 
the  night.  I  have  told  them  that  I  can  speak  but  once  a  da}' 
at  length  to  a  great  crowd.  The  labor  is  very  great,  but  my 
lungs  bear  it  well." 

On  this  tour  I  was  in  my  first  railroad  accident,  a 
"head-on"  collision  between  our  passenger  train  and 
some  cattle  cars.  No  human  life  was  lost,  but  some 
of  the  poor  brutes  were  killed.  It  was  a  strange  sight 
to  see  tlie  locomotives  standing  perpendicularly  on 
their  rear  ends,  their  wheels  interlocked  as  if  they 
were  great  wrestlers  in  a  deadly  embrace. 

At  a  hirge  meeting  in  Niles,  Michigan,  in  the  open 
air,  attended  by  farmers  from  all  the  country  round, 
when  I  commenced  to  speak  I  was  interrupted  by 
several  drunken  men  who  were  noisy  and  made  con- 
siderable threatening  talk.  I  paused  and  invited 
them  to  come  to  the  platform  where  they  could  see, 
be  seen,  and  be  better  heard.  One,  the  most  intoxi- 
cated,   accepted   with   much    bluster,  but    when    he 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  465 

got  to  the  platform  and  faced  the  crowd,  he  seemed  to 
be  sobered,  at  least  he  became  quiet,  and  sat  there, 
such  a  picture  of  the  effect  of  the  evil  I  was  exposing 
that  it  was  in  itself  a  potent  sermon  for  our  cause. 
The  influence  of  it  in  one  particular  was  instantane- 
ous. His  noisy  comrades  became  quiet,  and  there  was 
no  further  disturbance.  So  far  as  I  can  recall,  that 
was  the  only  instance  during  my  entire  round  of 
engagements  in  Michigan  where  there  was  the  least 
annoyance  from  persons  disposed  to  interrupt  a  meet- 
ing. Under  date  of  June  14,  1852,  I  wrote  from 
Detroit  : 

"  I  have  just  arrived,  after  an  intensely  hot  and  dusty  ride 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  miles,  and  found  a  meeting  notified 
for  me  to  address,  which  I  could  not  do,  for  my  voice  Ls 
entirely  broken  down  by  my  outdoor  eiforts  of  the  two  pre- 
ceding days.  I  can  scarcely  speak  above  a  whisper.  The 
weather  has  been  suifocating  for  the  past  few  days,  notwith- 
standing which  I  have  been  incessantly  at  work,  often  rising 
early  in  the  morning  to  reach  my  appointments,  and  again 
traveling  late  at  night  to  be  ready  for  the  next  day." 

At  Pontiac,  I  addressed  a  densely  crowded  meeting 
in  the  Congregational  church,  the  weather  being 
intensely  hot  and  suffocating.  It  was  so  warm  that 
I  went  to  the  church  without  a  vest,  and  while 
speaking  from  the  pulpit  was  at  once  astonished  and 
pleased  by  a  suggestion  from  the  pastor  to  remove  my 
coat  and  continue  my  speech  in  my  shirt  sleeves.  I 
demurred  at  first,  because  in  all  my  experience  in 
stumping  I  had  never  done  that,  but  the  pastor 
pressed  his  advice,  assuring  me  that  it  was  very  com- 
mon in  the  western  country,  and  I  adopted  his 
suggestion,  to  my  great  relief. 

On  my  way  to  Mount  Clemens,  when  I  arrived  at  a 
corner  about  a  mile  from  the  town,  I  found  a  large 


466  KEMINISCENCES 

number  of  wagons  and  chaises  collected.  Presently 
a  cavalcade  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  very  handsomely 
mounted,  with  a  good  band  of  music,  came  out  to  give 
me  a  public  reception.  They  made  a  fine  show  which 
I  wished  to  avoid,  but  as  I  was  told  that  a  great  deal 
of  pains  had  been  taken  to  get  up  the  affair,  the 
dresses,  scarfs,  horses  and  saddles,  and  that  the 
failure  of  the  plan  would  cause  much  chagrin,  I 
yielded.  As  the  cavalcade  approached,  it  opened, 
and  the  marshal  addressed  me  in  a  speech,  to  which 
I  replied.  I  was  then  taken  through  the  town  to  a 
hotel.  On  the  way  I  was  informed  that  an  aged 
Baptist  minister  was  anxious  to  see  me,  but  was  too 
feeble  to  go  out,  and  the  cavalcade  therefore  would 
pass  his  house. 

At  my  request,  it  stopped  until  I  could  go  in  to  meet 
him.  He  did  not  expect  that  and  was  affected  to 
tears.  He  was  a  very  old  man,  and  in  true  patriarchal 
style  invoked  blessings  on  my  head,  and  said  he  had 
prayed  for  me  daily  and  wanted  to  see  me  before  his 
death;  that  he  had  my  picture  in  his  bedroom,  which 
he  took  me  to  see,  and  said  he  was  now  ready  to  depart 
in  peace  ;  that  he  had  longed  to  see  me,  but  he  never 
expected  to  do  so.  I  could  not  but  be  deeply  touched, 
as  his  family  gathered  around  and  almost  embraced 
me. 

My  last  speech  in  Michigan  in  this  campaign  was  on 
Sunday,  the  day  before  the  voting.  This  was  at 
Northville.     I  wrote  at  the  time : 

"I  found  a  very  large  gatherino;  of  people,  of  all  ages, 
sexes  and  conditions,  from  all  the  country  round,  coming  in 
vehicles  of  all  descriptions,  absolutely  blocking  up  the  roads 
in  all  directions,  chaises,  gigs,  carryalls,  carriages,  and  farm 
wagons  of  all  sizes  and  variety,  loaded  full  of  farmers  with 
their  wives,  wives'  sisters,  and  all  the  children,  down  to  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  467 

crying  babies.  It  was  a  meeting  in  a  beautiful  grove,  and  as 
it  was  to  1)6  my  last  in  Michigan  I  spoke  longer  than  I  other- 
wise might  have  done,  about  two  hours,  and  was  much 
exhausted." 

The  result  of  the  balloting  in  Michigan  was  most 
gratifying,  and  I  felt  amply  repaid  for  my  hard  labor. 
Even  the  city  of  Detroit  helped  to  make  \i\)  part  of 
the  majority  of  twenty  thousand  registered  for  Pro- 
hibition. 

Among  my  co-laborers  in  Michigan  was  Dr.  Charles 
Jewett,  of  Massachusetts.  He  had  thrice  been  in 
Maine,  and  immediately  after  the  enactment  of  the 
Maine  Law  spent  some  time  there.  He  and  I  often 
spoke  together,  and  he  was  frequently  at  my  house 
and  we  were  warm  friends.  His  inexhaustible  fund  of 
humor,  and  his  ready  wit  made  his  companionship 
delightful,  while  his  thorough  knowledge  of  every 
phase  of  the  temperance  question  made  him  a  most 
effective  speaker. 

He  was  at  my  house  on  some  festive  day,  Thanks- 
giving, or  Christmas,  when  in  addition  to  our  family 
circle  of  eight,  including  the  doctor,  there  were  of 
neighbors  and  friends  enough  for  quite  a  tableful. 
I  had  asked  Dr.  Jewett  to  assist  in  carving,  which  he 
consented  to  do,  much  to  his  own  annoyance,  for  he 
proved  to  be  far  from  skillful  in  the  art.  Looking  up 
at  length  from  his  hardly  half-completed  task  and 
poising  the  carving-knife  in  his  hand,  he  said:  "  I  beg 
you  to  believe  that  I  am  not  ordinarily  such  a  bungler 
in  serving  humans  with  a  knife;  I  claim  to  be  a  good 
surgeon." 

Dr.  Jewett  did  much  in  Maine  to  form  and 
strengthen  the  public  opinion  of  the  state  in  favor 
of  the  policy  of  Prohibition.     He  labored  earnestly 


468  EEMINISCENCES 

and  effectively  in  all  our  large  towns  and  in  many  of 
our  smaller  ones,  demonstrating  the  rightfulness, 
expediency  and  the  wisdom  of  the  movement  to  pro- 
tect the  people  and  their  interests  from  the  infinite 
mischief  of  the  liquor-traffic.  We  never  had  among 
us  one  more  acceptable  to  our  people  as  a  leader  in 
this  department  of  Christian  and  philanthropic  labor. 
I  never  knew  a  more  devoted  and  unselfish  man.  His 
whole  heart  was  in  his  work  for  the  love  of  God  and 
of  his  fellow-men.  No  man  realized  more  fully  than 
he  that  earthly  interests  and  affairs  are  of  small 
moment  when  compared  to  those  which  relate  to  the 
eternal  world,  and  so  he  lived  mainly  for  those  which 
he  made  the  great  purpose  of  his  life.  His  hope  was 
to  be  able  to  work  to  the  very  last,  not  to  be  placed 
upon  the  retired  list,  or  to  be  invalided,  but  to  fall  in 
full  health  and  strength  upon  the  battle-field. 

I  may  mention,  by  the  way,  that  while  in  Detroit  I 
called  to  pay  my  respects  to  General  Cass,  whom  I 
had  met  once  before,  and  whom  I  had  of  course 
known  by  reputation,  not  only  as  a  public  man,  but 
as  one  whose  influence  had  been  given  to  temperance, 
by  voice  and  official  action  as  well  as  by  personal 
example  as  an  abstainer.  We  had  a  pleasant  inter- 
view, in  which  he  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  that 
when  he  was  secretary  of  war,  under  Jackson,  he  had 
changed  the  army  regulations  so  that  the  liquor 
rations  might  be  commuted  into  its  equivalent  in  cash 
value  in  coffee  and  sugar,  a  change  which  he  was 
confident  had  been  productive  of  much  good.  Later, 
in  1857,  General  Cass,  learning  that  I  was  about  to 
visit  Europe,  very  kindly  sent  me  a  personal  letter  to 
his  son,  who  at  the  time,  I  think,  was  minister  at 
Kome,  in  which  he  requested  him,  should  I  visit  that 


OF    NExVL    DOW.  469 

city,  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  make  my  stay  there 
agreeable.  I  was  unable,  however,  to  avail  myself  of 
the  opportunity  to  present  the  letter. 

Leaving  Michigan,  I  went  to  Ohio  to  attend  a 
number  of  meetings.  Among  others,  a  monster  dem- 
onstration had  been  arranged  at  Columbus,  but 
thoroughly  broken  down  with  fatigue,  I  was  intend- 
ing to  keep  away  and  only  consented  to  attend  it  after 
most  urgent  entreaties.  My  eye  rests  now  on  one  of 
the  despatches  received  by  me  at  the  American  House 
in  Cleveland: 

"  For  heaven's  sake  do  not  fail  to  appear  in  Columl)us. 
Thousands  and  thousands  are  coming  to  see  you.  You  will 
not  be  compelled  to  speak,  but  come  what  will  you  must  be 
here,  so  as  to  be  w4th  us  on  Thursday.  Again  I  say  let 
nothing  short  of  absolute  impossibility  prevent  you  from 
coming.  You  shall  have  every  possible  comfort.  You  can- 
not conceive  of  the  disastrous  consequences  of  this  unlooked- 
for  disappointment." 

At  Columbus  my  audience  numbered  fully  ten 
thousand,  which  stood  for  two  whole  hours  in  the 
open  air  to  listen  to  what  I  had  to  say.  Twice  during 
my  speech,  I  essayed  to  stop,  nearly  exhausted  from 
dizziness,  but  the  shouts  of  "go  on!"  "go  on!" 
spurred  me  to  further,  and  well-nigh  exhausting, 
effort. 

Such  an  incessant  round  of  speaking,  with  the 
necessary  intervening  travel,  was  in  those  days  more 
wearisome  than  it  would  be  to  a  man  of  equal  physi- 
cal vigor  now.  Traveling  in  the  early  "fifties  "was 
quite  a  different  matter  from  the  journeying  of 
to-day.  The  best  accommodations  of  the  railroads  of 
that  time  would  hardly  be  tolerated  now.  Compara- 
tively, there  was  no  comfort  in  cars  by  day  or  night. 

In  addition  to  fatigue  incident  to  travel  and  public 

31 


470  KEMINISCENCES 

speaking,  wliether  staying  at  hotel  or  in  private 
houses,  I  was  overrun  with  callers.  Many  of  these 
wanted  light,  or  were  disposed  to  privately  discuss 
with  me  the  question  I  was  publicly  presenting. 
Then  too,  I  was  followed  by  communications  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  urging  me  to  come  and  speak,  or 
asking  opinions  upon  this  point,  or  advice  upon 
others.  To  all  such  I  tried  to  reply.  Besides  all 
these  Avere  my  letters  to  my  home,  which  I  wrote 
almost  every  day.  I  Avas  often,  therefore,  obliged  to 
write  into  the  early  morning  or  to  be  up  almost  at 
daybreak  to  keep  up  with  my  correspondence. 

From  Ohio  I  went  into  northern  New  York  for  a 
number  of  meetings,  and  thence  to  Canada.  At 
Toronto  I  was  somewhat  embarrassed  by  the  nature 
of  my  cordial  greeting.  I  arrived  there  by  steamer 
from  Hamilton  in  the  forenoon  and  found  at  the 
wharf  a  party  of  about  thirty  gentlemen  waiting  for 
me,  who  received  me  in  form,  and  then  in  a  coach  and 
four  followed  by  six  other  coaches,  I  made  the  tour 
of  the  city.  The  next  day  I  was  kindly  entertained 
at  a  public  breakfast,  where  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  many  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  city. 

My  Canadian  tour  included  Montreal  and  Quebec, 
and  wherever  I  stopped  the  general  interest  in  the 
^luestion  of  Prohibition  was  manifest  in  other  ways 
Ithan  by  the  size  of  the  meetings,  which  were  almost 
without  exception  large.  After  completing  my  Can- 
adian appointments  I  turned  my  face  homeward, 
having  been  absent  more  than  three  months. 

Within  thirty  days  after  my  return  I  started  out 
once  more  to  fill  a  series  of  appointments  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  state.  These  were  held  with 
special  reference  to  the  state  election,  soon  to  occur. 


OF   NEAL    DOW,  471 

in  which  the  Maine  Law  was  indirectly  involved. 
To  that  election,  and  some  of  its  results,  I  shall 
refer  later.  To  meet  these  appointments  I  traveled 
from  place  to  place  in  a  private  conveyance,  often 
speaking  twice  a  day.  Besides  this  I  had  many 
private  conferences  with  leading  friends  of  temper- 
ance in  towns  where  I  spoke.  On  this  trip  also  I 
visited  my  cousin,  John  Hodgdon,  whom  I  found 
living  luxuriously  in  the  midst  of  the  very  terri- 
tory where  he  and  I  some  thirty  years  before  had 
' '  roughed  it "  for  months  in  the  wilderness  to  plot 
the  land  and  arrange  for  its  clearing. 

While  I  was  active  at  home  and  abroad  for  Prohi- 
bition, the  opponents  of  it  were  not  idle.  Two  papers 
were  established  in  Portland  avowedly  to  oppose  it, 
and  persistent  efforts  were  made  to  spread  broadcast 
through  the  country  reports  derogatory  of  Portland 
and  the  state  of  Maine,  representing  them  as  suffering 
materially  and  morally  from  the  Maine  Law.  It  was 
openly  charged  that  Boston  liquor-dealers  furnished 
the  money  with  which  the  laborers  in  that  field  were 
paid,  but  I  do  not  know  that  this  was  ever  proven, 
nor,  for  that  matter,  denied. 

The  statement  that  Prohibition  had  proved  in  any 
way  detrimental  led  to  a  public  denial,  signed  by 
four  hundred  and  thirty-three  of  our  best  known 
citizens,  including  the  mayor  of  the  city  and  most, 
if  not  all,  of  the  clergymen.  It  was  stated  in  the 
paper  in  which  this  was  first  published  that  the 
number  of  names  might  have  been  increased  indefi- 
nitely, had  it  not  been  intended  in  the  first  instance 
to  confine  it  to  comparatively  representative  names, 
but  the  number  had  already  been  swelled  far  beyond 
the  original  design,  because  so  many  had  asked  the 


472  KEMINISCENCES 

privilege  of  affixing  their  signatures.  Among  tlie 
names  of  special  note  attached  to  the  denial  was 
that  of  William  Pitt  Fessenden.  There  were  also 
those  of  six  men  who  either  had  been,  or  were  after- 
wards to  be,  mayors  of  Portland. 

During  September,  a  World's  Temperance  con- 
vention was  held  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  was 
a  large  and  influential  gathering,  including  delegates 
not  only  from  many  of  the  states  of  this  Union  and 
the  British  Provinces,  but  from  Great  Britain  as  well. 
I  was  made  president  of  this  body.  An  incident 
occurred  which  interfered  somewhat  with  the  har- 
mony of  the  occasion.  "Woman's  Eights"  were  not 
then  generally  recognized,  and  an  attempt  of  the  Rev. 
Antoinette  L.  Brown  to  speak  was  very  offensive  to 
some  delegates,  especially  to  many  clergymen  present. 
Objections  were  raised  to  her  speaking,  and  amid  a 
storm  of  protests  against  it  she  appealed  to  the  chair 
for  recognition  and  protection  of  her  right  to  be 
heard. 

Coming  clearly  within  the  terms  of  the  call  as  she 
did,  being  a  delegate  from  a  properly  constituted 
temperance  society,  I  decided  that  she  had  a  right 
to  speak.  I  could  not  have  done  otherwise  had  I 
been  personally  disposed  to  exclude  her.  An  appeal 
from  the  chair  was  taken,  but  its  decision  was  sus- 
tained. At  this  the  disturbance  on  the  part  of  some 
of  those  who  believed  that  women  should  keep  silent 
in  meeting  was  so  great  that  she  could  not  go  on,  and 
the  chair  requested  the  police  to  quell  the  disturbance 
by  putting  disorderly  persons  out  of  the  hall.  After 
that  there  was  no  further  trouble  for  the  time. 

The  next  day,  a  movement,  at  the  time  deemed  to 
be  more  in  the  interest  of  Woman's  Rights  than  of 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  473 

temperance,  in  the  name  of  which  the  convention  was 
called,  was  started.  It  was  led,  as  far  as  it  pro- 
gressed, by  Wendell  Phillips.  If  I  remember  aright, 
a  society  was  organized  immediately  after  Miss 
Brown's  attempt  to  address  the  convention.  This 
was  called  the  "Neal  Dow  Temperance  Society,"  of 
some  New  York  City  ward,  I  believe.  Mr.  Phillips 
was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  convention,  the  main 
object  being,  it  was  supposed,  to  secure  his  matchless 
oratory  to  support  a  fight  intended  to  be  waged  over 
the  question  of  Woman's  Rights. 

When  Mr.  Phillips  rose  to  speak,  objection  was 
raised,  and  his  eligibility  to  membership  was  ques- 
tioned. I  was  obliged  to  rule  in  substance  that  the 
"Neal  Dow  Society,"  not  having  had  an  existence  at 
the  time  of  the  assembling  of  the  convention,  was  not 
one  of  those  contemplated  by  the  call,  hence  the  great 
antislavery  reformer  and  Woman's  Rights  advocate, 
and  earnest  champion  of  so  much  that  makes  for  the 
welfare  of  society,  could  not  go  on.  Certainly  there 
were  few  men  in  that  body  whose  devotion  to  temper- 
ance could  in  point  of  ability,  sincerity  and  zeal, 
outrank  his.  I  regretted  much  that  the  incident 
occurred,  but  never  doubted  the  soundness  of  the 
ruling  by  the  chair. 

After  several  meetings  in  different  parts  of  New 
York  state,  I  went  to  Pennsylvania.  There  I  spent  a 
month,  constantly  speaking,  often  twice  a  day,  until 
the  eve  of  the  election  on  October  11,  in  which  the 
Maine  Law  was  involved.  Shortly  after  this  date 
I  reached  home.  Early  in  November,  however,  I  was 
off  again  for  a  series  of  meetings  in  Massachusetts, 
commencing  with  one  in  Faneuil  Hall.  Filling  my 
appointments,  which  were  mostly  in  the  western  i)art 


474  REMINISCENCES    OF    NEAL   DOW. 

of  the  state,  I  returned  to  Portland  to  give  such  atten- 
tion as  I  could  to  my  own  affairs. 

For  most  of  the  time  up  to  January,  1854,  I  was  at 
home,  with  occasional  temporary  absences,  due  to 
demands  upon  me  to  speak  at  sundry  places  in  Maine, 
generally  not  far  from  home.  Some  time  was  also 
devoted  to  the  peculiar  political  conditions  existing  in 
the  state  as  a  result  of  the  September  election  of  1853, 
which  was  becoming  manifest  in  the  winter  and  spring 
of  1854.  These  can  best  be  considered  in  another 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE    STATE     ELECTION   OF   1853,        BOLT   OF    MAINE-LAW   DEM- 

OCEATS.  THE     TUKNING-POINT    IN     THE     POLITICS 

OF    MAINE.       ELECTION     OF   WILLIAM    PITT 

FESSENDEN   AS    UNITED    STATES 

SENATOK. 


It  is  now  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  election  of 
William  Gr.  Crosby  by  the  legislature  of  1853,  through 
the  defection  of  the  anti-Maine  Law  Democrats, 
placed  a  Whig  in  the  gubernatorial  chair.  This 
was  only  the  third  time  that  a  Whig  had  occupied 
that  position  since  the  organization  of  the  Democratic 
party,  which,  early  in  the  history  of  the  state,  had 
acquired  an  ascendancy,  maintaining  it  up  to  1853, 
save  that  in  1838  and  1841,  Edward  Kent,  a  Whig, 
was  governor,  in  the  former  case  having  been  chosen 
by  the  people  in  the  state  election  of  1837  by  less  than 
one  hundred  majority,  and  in  the  latter  case  depend- 
ing for  his  position  upon  the  legislature  chosen  in 
1840,  when  he  failed  of  a  popular  election  by  less 
than  forty  votes. 

The  ill-feeling  in  the  Democratic  ranks  developed 
through  the  election  of  a  Whig  by  Democratic  votes,  in 
the  legislature  which  assembled  in  1853,  was  by  no 
means    allayed,   but  rather  grew  stronger  with  the 


476  REMINISCENCES 

lapse  of  time.  For  several  weeks  prior  to  tlie  gather- 
ing of  the  Democratic  nominating  convention  at 
Bangor,  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1853,  it  was 
evident  that  trouble  was  brewing  which  could 
only,  be  prevented  by  the  greatest  skill  on  the  part  of 
the  leaders  from  breaking  out  in  open  revolt. 

The  "liberal"  Democrats  insisted  that  the  platform 
and  the  nominee  should  be  unequivocally  committed 
against  the  Maine  Law.  The  Expositor,  the  Portland 
organ  of  that  wing  of  the  party,  referring  to  the 
Maine  Law,  said: 

"  The  people  want  no  '  side  issue '  made  of  this  matter,  Imt 
a  main,  direct  issue  upon  it,  at  the  polls,  and  this  in  the  elec- 
tion of  the  next  year's  law-makers  and  law-executors.  And 
they  demand  and  will  insist  on  having  candidates  wdiose 
course  shall  not  be  a  concealed  nor  a  doul)tful  one.  The 
peoi)le  want  no  more  to  be  cheated,  nor  delayed  in  this 
matter ;  and  as  sure  as  the  sentiment  of  those  leaders  of  the 
jjarty  who  twirl  their  thumbs  and  fingers  significantly  and 
scornfully  about  their  noses  and  cry  '  no  side  issue  ' —  '  Keep 
still  : '  —  '  Keep  dark  ! '  —  '  Let  us  be  united  ! '  —  shall  pre- 
vail in  the  convention  at  Bangor,  and  a  dumb  democracy  is 
to  be  represented  in  the  candidate  selected,  then  it  will  be  the 
duty,  the  interest,  the  policy,  and  the  necessity  of  the  liberal 
democracy  of  the  state,  and  of  all  liberal  men  and  minds, 
once  more  to  rally  upon  their  own  responsibility,  and  in 
defense  of  their  own  cause  and  rights,  and  drive  these  traf- 
ficking politicians  from  the  halls  of  legislation,  and  from  the 
executive  department  of  the  government.  This  they  can  do, 
and  this  we  believe  they  will  do." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Maine-Law  Democrats  were 
no  less  determined  that  the  state  convention  should 
endorse  the  legislation  wliich  had  been  enacted  when 
their  party  had  complete  control  of  the  state. 
Between  these  two  extremes  the  leaders  held  the 
great  mass  of  tlie  party  to  a  half-way  policy,  the 
nomination    of    a    candidate    personally   opposed    to 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  477 

Proliibitioii,  but  upon  a  platform  whicli  sliould 
entirely  ignore  that  subject. 

The  discussion,  public  and  private,  prior  to  the 
convention,  had  excited  great  interest  in  it,  and 
certain  that  no  hall  would  contain  those  who  would 
be  in  attendance  to  participate  in  it  and  to  watch  its 
proceedings,  a  large  tent  was  provided  to  accommo- 
date the  convention. 

The  uncompromising  Gary,  who  had  so  vigorously 
criticized  me  in  the  discussion  upon  the  Maine 
Law,  when  it  was  first  before  the  senate,  was  the 
candidate  of  the  straight-out  liberals;  my  cousin, 
John  Hodgdon,  was  supported  by  some  of  the  other 
extreme,  while  the  middle-men  favored  Albert  G. 
Pillsbury.  The  latter  was  nominated  on  the  third 
ballot.  The  main  difference  between  Mr.  Pillsbury 
and  Mr.  Gary  upon  the  liquor  question,  was  in 
expression,  not  opinion.  The  latter  was  frank  and 
outspoken,  the  former  voicing  equally  positive  hos- 
tility to  the  measure  but  only  where  it  would  attract 
votes  and  not  repel  them. 

A  story  found  its  way  into  print  to  the  effect  that, 
after  his  nomination,  Gandidate  Pillsbury  sent  Mr. 
Gary  an  invitation  to  come  to  the  Pillsbury  head- 
quarters. To  this,  it  was  said,  Mr.  Gary  replied: 
"Tell  Pillsbury  to  come  to  mine.  I  have  here  more 
friends  and  better  liquor  than  can  be  found  in  his ! " 

The  "liberal  "  element,  having  nothing  to  complain 
of  in  the  candidate,  was  now  easily  made  to  see  that 
silence  in  the  platform  as  to  Prohibition  was  the 
better  policy,  and  that  course  was  adopted.  Remem- 
bering the  quarrel  of  the  last  year  over  the  question 
of  a  legislative  renomination  of  Governor  Hubbard, 
the  convention  voted: 


478  REMINISCENCES 

"That  the  legislature  as  such  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
nomination  of  governor." 

It  was  soon  evident  that  it  mattered  little  who  had 

to  do  with  the  selection  of  Democratic  candidates  for 

governor  of  Maine.     Since  that  time,  with  but  one  or 

two    exceptions,    they  have  never   been  more   than 

candidates.     The  Democratic  A7'gics,  referring  to  the 

platform,  said: 

"The  convention  gave  no  sign  by  which  it  could  even  l)e 
inferred  that  there  was  such  a  thing  on  the  statute-books  as  a 

liquor  law Mr.  Pillsbury  is  the  representative  of  the 

principles  embodied  in  those  resolutions  —  and  no  others. 
Consequently  all  Democrats  may  unite  in  giving  him  their 
cordial  support." 

Almost  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
convention  it  became  evident  that  the  Democratic 
party  was  far  from  being  a  happy  and  united  family. 
Much  bitter,  if  not  justifiable,  talk  followed.  One 
Democratic  paper,  referring  to  the  convention,  said: 

"  The  noise  and  confusion  which  attended  its  proceedings, 
constituted  at  times  a  perfect  pandemonium.  The  voice  of 
the  multitude  broke  forth  in  the  wildest  shouts  and  set  at 
deliance  the  authority  of  the  chairman  and  the  rules  of 
decorum." 

Another  paper  spoke  of  the  convention  as,  "a 
desperate,  unprincipled,  and  rum-soaked  set  of  men." 
Allowance,  however,  should  be  made  for  the  irrita- 
tion and  excitement  of  the  time.  A  Democratic  paper 
said: 

"  All)crt  Pillslniry  was  nominated  by  a  convention  of  the 
Lil)eral  party,  and  none  but  the  sworn  enemies  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  have  made  him  their  standard-ltoarcr.  The  same 
party  that  last  year  nominated  Anson  G.  Chandler  have  this 
year  nominated  Albert  Pillsbury." 

A  few  days  after  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Pillsbury,  a 
state  temperance  convention  was  held   in  Portland 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  479 

which  was  largely  attended.  Its  presiding  officer  was 
Gen.  John  J.  Perry,  of  Oxford  county,  and  one  of  its 
secretaries  was  Woodbury  Davis,  of  Waldo  county. 
Among  the  speakers  was  Gen.  Samuel  Fessenden,  of 
Portland.  A  feature  of  this  convention  was  the 
attendance  of  a  fire  engine-company,  from  Saco,  all 
pledged  Maine-Law  men,  which  marched  into  the  hall 
preceded  by  a  band  of  music.  A  state  temperance 
committee  was  appointed,  and  among  others  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  were  adopted: 

*'  Resolved,  That  the  temperance  reform  is  the  cause  of 
God  and  humanity,  and  that  all  true  Christians  and  patriots 
will  stand  by  it,  whenever  and  wherever  that  cause  is 
endangered. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Maine  Law  is  a  recognition  of  moral 
truth,  and  an  embodiment  of  political  wisdom,  and  is  worthy 
to  stand  as  a  leading  question  before  the  people  of  our  state 
in  popular  conventions  and  at  the  ballot  box,  until  all  opposi- 
tion to  it  shall  cease. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  legal  prohibition  of  the  traffic  in 
intoxicating  liquors  is  not  a  '  side '  issue  nor  an  '  outside ' 
question  foreign  to  legitimate  politics,  but  a  subject  involv- 
ing the  highest  political  welfare  of  the  state,  and  that  no 
candidate  for  office  who  is  not  a  true  and  reliable  supporter 
of  the  '  Maine  Law '  shall  have  our  support  at  the  polls. 

"Resolved,  That  the  central  committee  be  authorized  and 
instructed  in  behalf  of  this  convention,  to  interrogate  the 
several  candidates  for  governor,  in  regard  to  their  opinions 
and  position  in  relation  to  the  Maine  Law,  and  that  they 
publish  the  answers  they  may  receive  for  the  consideration 
and  action  of  the  people." 

The  Whig  leaders  now  saw  their  opportunity  to 
profit  by  the  situation,  and  their  leading  organ  editor- 
ially said: 

' '  If  the  question  could  be  fairly  put  to  the  people  of  this 
state,  entirely  disconnected  from  party  politics,  we  believe 
that  more  than  three-quarters  of  our  legal  voters  would  be 
found  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  the  Maine  Law And  yet 


480  REMINISCENCES 

the  danger  of  repeal  in  this  state  is  at  this  moment  more  im- 
minent than  ever  l)efore. 

"  It  is  morally  impossible  that  the  ]Maine  Law  can  ever  be 
repealed  in  this  state  without  the  aid  of  the  organization  and 
political  machinery  of  one  of  the  great  political  parties.  Last 
3^ear  the  rum  power  failed  to  secure  this  object.  The  regular 
candidates  of  all  the  political  parties  were  committed  in  favor 
of  the  material  provisions  of  the  law.  The  opposition  to  the 
law  was  therefore  found  outside  of,  and  opposed  to,  all  the 
political  organizations.  "VVe  can  assure  the  friends  of  the 
Maine  Law,  that  the  day  of  their  trial  has  come.  They  now 
have  to  deal  with  an  opponent  that  has  not  been  accustomed 
to  defeat. 

'  Now,  gallant  Saxon,  hold  thine  own  ! 
No  maiden's  hand  is  round  thee  thrown  ! 
That  desperate  grasp  thy  frame  might  feel 
Through  bars  of  brass  and  triple  steel.' 

"Those  who  are  prompted  by  appetite,  passion  and  self- 
interest,  in  a  contest  of  this  character,  are  generally  united, 
determined  and  persevering.  Those  who  are  moved  only  by 
devotion  to  a  sentiment,  or  principle  of  duty,  are  too  often 
divided,  irresolute  and  lukewarm.  They  lack  that  wonderful 
cohesive  power  of  selfishness  which  impels  and  binds  together 
their  opponents.  Here  lies  the  principal  danger  at  the 
present  time.  If  its  friends  are  united,  resolute  and  deter- 
mined, the  law  will  be  sustained,  and  in  a  manner  which  will 
prevent  future  efforts  to  make  war  upon  it.  But,  if  they  are 
divided,  irresolute  and  faltering,  the  chances  are  that  they 
may  sustain  a  most  inglorious  defeat,  the  law  be  swept  from 
the  statute-book,  and  Maine  return  to  a  state  of  things  the 
consequences  of  which  human  wisdom  can  hardly  compre- 
hend." 

About  the  same  time  a  Democratic  paper  said : 

"It  is  a  notorious  fact,  in  the  mouth  of  both  friends  and 
foes  of  the  jNIaine  Law,  that  Mr.  Pillsbury  was  selected  as 
the  most  available  exponent  of  those  who  go  for  a  repeal  of 

that  measure.     He gave  such  pledges,  verbally  and 

in  Avriting,  as  to  leave  no  dou1)t  in  regard  to  his  position. 
The  rum-interest  is  rejoicing  in  the  assurance  that  the  Maine 
Law  is  now  doomed,  and  in  order  to  make  the  thing  effectual 
the  entire  rum-interest  is  to  ])e  enlisted  in  his  favor.  The 
liberal   Whigs    of   INIaine    already    stand    pledged  to  support 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  481 

him,  and  will  do  so  to  a  man.  But  even  with  all  this 
extraneous  aid,  the  democracy  is  so  disgusted  and  disgraced 
by  the  drunkenness  and  rowdyism  Avhich  resulted  in  this 
nomination,  that  they  feel  called  upon  to  rise  up  in  indigna- 
tion against  those  who  have  betrayed  a  virtuous  constituency." 

The  Maine-Law  men  were  fully  alive  to  tlie  danger 
thus  set  out,  and  hardly  needed  the  warning,  however 
disinterested  were  those  who  extended  it.  The  story 
of  the  next  few  years  shows  that  they  made  good  use 
of  the  means  at  their  disposal.  As  soon  as  it  became 
apparent  that  a  political  organization,  as  such,  was 
contemplating  an  attack  upon  the  law,  its  friends 
interposed  between  it  and  the  threatened  danger  a 
strong  party  unequivocally  committed  to  its  support. 

Governor  Crosby  had  been  renominated  by  the 
Whig  members  of  the  legislature,  and  Dr.  Ezekiel 
Holmes  had  also  been  renominated  by  the  Free- 
Soilers.  Meanwhile  the  committee  appointed  at  the 
state  temperance  convention  to  interrogate  the  candi- 
dates for  governor  upon  the  subject  of  the  Maine 
Law  had  addressed  notes  to  each  of  these,  as  well 
as  to  Candidate  Pillsbury,  containing  the  following 
questions : 

"  1st.  Ought  the  Maine  Liquor  Law,  in  your  judgment,  to 
be  repealed? 

2d.  If  not,  should  this  law  be  modified  in  any  respect? 
If  so,  please  state  to  us  what  provisions  you  think  should  be 
changed,  and  in  what  respects?" 

To  these  Governor  Crosby  had  replied: 

"  Believing  that  the  object  of  the  law  referred  to  is  of  the 
highest  importance  to  the  moral,  social  and  political  welfare 
of  the  people,  and  that  its  provisions  are  adequate  to  the 
accomplishment  of  that  object,  it  ought  not,  in  my  judgment, 
to  be  repealed.  I  have  no  modifications  to  propose  or  recom- 
mend, and  am  not  aware  of  any  which  should  be  made." 

Dr.  Holmes,  in  his  response  to  the  committee,  said: 


482  REMINISCENCES 

<<  Permit  me  to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  the  legislature  of 
Maine  could  not  do  a  deed  more  fatal  to  her  moral  interests, 
more  disastrous  to  her  growing  prosperity,  and,  by  conse- 
quence, more  derogatory  to  her  honor  and  reputation,  than  to 
repeal  the  act  commonly  called  the  '  Maine  Law.'" 

No  reply  was  received  from  Mr.  Pillsbury,  but  a 
Democratic  paper,  the  editor  of  which  was  understood 
to  be  a  very  close  friend  of  his,  said : 

"  A  committee  was  appointed  to  catechise  candidates.  The 
friends  of  a  candidate  know  his  opinions  or  are  willing  to  take 
him  as  he  is  on  the  responsibility  and  recommendations  of  the 
nominating  convention  while  the  enemies  of  a  candidate  only 
catechise  him  for  the  purpose  of  drawling  something  from  him 
to  be  used  to  his  disadvantage." 

In  the  latter  part  of  July,  another  state  temperance 
convention  was  held  in  Bangor.  Its  presiding  officer 
was  Mayor  Greorge  W.  Pickering,  of  that  city.  It 
adopted  the  following  resolution: 

"  Resolved,  That  we  seek  to  form  no  political  organization, 
or  raise  any  political  issue.  We  go  unitedly  for  the  support 
of  the  Maine  Law,  and,  in  this  great  work,  we  recognize  all 
men  who  are  friendly  to  that  enterprise  as  our  friends,  and 
its  enemies  as  our  enemies,  and  we  feel  bound  to  treat  all 
nominees  for  office,  when  their  acts  can  affect  that  law%  as  for 
us  or  against  us,  and  the  candidate  that  refuses  to  define  his 
position,  when  respectfully  requested  so  to  do,  is  unworthy  of 
our  support,  and  shall  be  treated  accordingly  at  the  polls." 

That  convention  was  addressed  by  Anson  P. 
Morrill,  who  had  always  been  an  earnest  Democrat, 
but  who  denounced  the  position  of  the  Democratic 
party  and  its  candidate  upon  the  Maine  Law,  which 
he  strongly  favored.  Within  ten  days  after  that 
speech,  Mr.  Morrill  was  nominated  for  governor  ])y  a 
state  convention  of  bolting  Democrats,  held  in  Port- 
land on  the  fourth  of  August. 

A  number  of  prominent  and  influential  Democrats, 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  483 

among  them  Noah  Prince,  who,  as  president  of  the 
senate,  had  affixed  his  name  to  the  Maine  Law  in 
attestation  of  its  passage  through  the  body  over 
which  he  presided,  and  Gen.  John  J.  Perry,  had 
united  in  a  call  for  a  mass  convention  of  those  Demo- 
crats who,  to  quote,  ' '  are  opposed  to  the  disgraceful, 
unjust,  and  unjustifiable  proceedings  of  the  recent 
Bangor  convention." 

In  response  to  the  call,  a  convention  assembled  in 
Portland.  Notwithstanding  a  severe  rainstorm,  there 
was  a  large  attendance,  Oxford  county  especially 
sending  a  numerous  delegation.  I  remember  an 
amusing  incident  connected  with  the  march  of  this 
body,  nearly  five  hundred  strong,  from  the  depot  to 
the  hall  where  the  convention  was  to  assemble.  It 
was  raining  hard,  and  as  but  few  of  the  procession 
carried  umbrellas,  they  presented,  all  dripping  as  they 
were,  a  forlorn  picture.  They  were  greeted  with 
derisive  shouts  from  the  sidewalk  contingent  of 
Democratic  regulars,  such  as:  "You  are  out  in  the 
wet!  "  "  Your  bear  skins  are  spoiled!  "  and  other  con- 
temptuous expressions. 

In  front  of  the  old  Exchange,  which  occupied  the 
spot  where  is  noAv  the  post-office,  stood  Hon.  Virgil  D. 
Parris,  one  of  the  stalwart  leading  Democrats  of  the 
time.  He  was  then,  if  I  remember  aright,  certainly 
at  one  time,  a  United  States  marshal  for  Maine.  He 
was  of  tall  and  commanding  figure,  and  his  imposing- 
physique  had  for  years  been  a  marked  feature  of 
every  Democratic  gathering  of  note  in  the  state.  A 
citizen  of  Oxford,  he  recognized  many  of  his  Oxford 
neighbors  in  the  procession,  and  hailed  one  of  them 
with  the  jocular  inquiry:  "What  fire  company  have 
you  bears  joined  now ? "    The  term  "bears  "  was  com- 


484  REMINISCENCES 

monly  applied  to  residents  of  Oxford  county,  which 
included  much  wild  forest-land,  Avhere  bears  were 
abundant.  Instantly  the  reply  came  from  the  ranks: 
"The  name  of  this  company  is  the  'Pillsbury  Extin- 
guishers!'" This  retort  gave  to  the  bolters,  as  they 
were  then  called,  the  name  by  which  they  were 
known  through  the  campaign.  It  was  an  appropriate 
one.  They  certainly  did  extinguish  Pillsbury,  and 
with  him  Democratic  prestige  and  power  in  Maine. 

The  convention  nominated  Anson  P.  Morrill  as  its 
candidate  for  governor.  Among  the  resolutions 
adopted  was  the  following: 

"Resolved,  That  the  great  moral  evils  which  affect  society 
are  proper  subjects  of  legislative  restraint,  and  that  all  laws 
enacted  for  such  purpose  should  be  respected  and  enforced." 

Through  committees  appointed  for  the  purpose,  the 
MorriU  men  perfected  their  arrangements  to  oppose 
regular  Democratic  nominees  for  the  legislature  who 
were  not  known  to  be  friendly  to  the  Maine  Law  and 
to  support  Whigs  or  Free-Soil  candidates  who  might 
be  sound  on  that  issue,  the  choice  being  determined  by 
the  prospects  which  one  or  the  other  might  have  of  an 
election  with  such  aid,  while  on  the  other  hand,  in 
strong  Democratic  districts,  where  there  was  any 
prospect  of  electing  by  so  doing,  temperance  Whigs 
and  Free-Soilers  supported  Morrill-Democratic  can- 
didates for  the  senate  and  house. 

The  campaign  which  was  now  opened  proved  a 
warm  one,  especially  between  the  two  wings  of  the 
divided  Democracy.  It  was  the  expectation  among 
the  leaders  of  the  "  regulars  "  that  they  could  throw 
for  their  candidate,  Pillsbury,  who  ignored  the  pro- 
hibitory issue,  a  larger  vote  than  Hubbard  had 
secured  the  year  before.      In  this  they  were  disap- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  485 

pointed  by  some  thousands.  Hubbard,  running  in 
1852  as  the  regular  Democratic  candidate,  but  une- 
quivocally committed  to  the  Maine  Law,  for  which  by 
his  approval  he  was  sponsor,  received  forty-two  thou- 
sand votes,  while  Pillsbury  in  1853,  also  a  regular 
Democratic  candidate,  but  understood  to  be  hostile  to 
the  law,  polled  a  little  over  thirty-six  thousand  votes. 

This  loss  of  five  thousand,  six  hundred  votes  was 
not  uniformly  distributed  throughout  the  state.  It 
varied  with  the  earnestness  of  temperance  sentiment 
in  different  localities.  In  Portland,  for  instance, 
where  in  1852  Hubbard  had  received  1495  votes, 
Pillsbury  in  1853  obtained  only  755,  the  exact  number, 
by  the  way,  given  the  "liberal"  bolting  candidate, 
Chandler,  in  1852.  In  Bangor,  where  Hubbard 
had  received  1,065,  only  611  votes  were  cast  for 
Pillsbury,  while  Morrill  received  almost  as  many 
as  had  been  thrown  by  the  "liberals"  in  1852.  In 
some  other  sections  of  the  state  Pillsbury  received 
more  votes  than  Hubbard.  The  Free-Soilers,  who  in 
1852  had  transferred  most  of  their  strength  to  Gover- 
nor Hubbard,  this  year  gave  their  own  candidate, 
a  strong  Maine-Law  man,  who  in  his  letter  had  advo- 
cated more  stringent  prohibitory  legislation,  almost 
nine  thousand  votes,  while  the  Maine-Law  candidate, 
Anson  P.  Morrill,  received  about  eleven  thousand, 
drawn  mostly  from  the  Democratic  party,  and  the 
Whig  candidate,  Governor  Crosby,  received  some 
twenty-seven  thousand  votes.  The  choice  of  a  gover- 
nor was  thus  again  devolved  upon  the  legislature. 

The  result  of  the  election  was  most  gratifying  every 
way  to  the  friends  of  the  Maine  Law,  indicating  most 
clearly  that  the  policy  was  entrenched  behind  a  sub- 
stantial popular  majority. 

32 


486  REMINISCENCES 

The  leading  Whig  daily  of  the  state,  referring  to 

the  result,  said: 

"  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  liquor-law  question  entered 
lavoely  into  our  recent  election.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  only 
qu(>stion,  or  issue,  or  principle,  upon  which  there  was  any 
considerable  feeling.  The  result  indicated  a  very  strong 
popular  sentiment  in  favor  of  maintaining  the  law.  Crosby, 
Morrill,  and  Holmes  were  all  strongly  and  unequivocally  com- 
mitted   in  favor    of  the    law In   this  city,  Portland, 

where  the  law  has  been  very  thoroughly  discussed,  and  its 
practical  operation  subjected  to  close  scrutiny  and  severe 
tests,  the  election  of  representatives  at  the  last  two  annual 
elections  shows  a  decided  majority  in  its  favor." 

The  legislature  chosen  was  strongly  favorable  to 
the  Maine  Law.  But  it  was  of  a  decidedly  mixed 
character  politically.  To  the  house  there  were 
elected  sixty-four  Whigs,  sixty  Democrats,  nineteen 
Morrill- Democrats,  and  eight  Free-Soilers. 

The  majority  rule  yet  obtained  as  to  the  choice  of 
senators,  and  of  these  only  thirteen  of  a  total  of 
thirty-one  were  elected  by  the  people,  seven  of  them 
being  Democrats. 

In  addition  to  the  choice  of  a  governor  from  among 
the  four  candidates  between  whom  the  popular  vote 
had  been  divided,  the  legislature  was  to  choose  a 
United  States  senator,  to  succeed  Hon.  James  W. 
Bradbury,  whose  term  had  expired  in  1853.  The 
legislature  elected  in  1852  was  Democratic,  as  we 
have  seen,  but  it  rei)resented  a  party  that  was  split 
into  two  irreconcilable  factions  over  the  issue  of  the 
re-election  of  Governor  Hubbard,  with  the  result  that 
the  election  of  a  successor  to  Mr.  Bradbury  had  been 
postponed  for  a  year.  Now  it  ^vas  apparent  that 
unless  the  Morrill-Democrats  should  co-operate  with 
their  former  political  associates,  no  Democrat  could 
succeed  Mr.  Bradbury,  and  it  was  almost  as  certain 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  487 

that  such  co-operation  could  not  be  secured.  Never- 
theless, as  soon  as  the  political  complexion  of  the 
legislature  became  known,  efforts  were  made  to  bring 
the  Morrill  men  back  into  the  Democratic  fold. 
They  were  promised  forgiveness,  present  position, 
and  future  reward  if  they  would  return  to  their 
accustomed  political  abiding-place.  Moreover  it  was 
also  urged  upon  them  that  the  Maine  Law  was 
safe,  that  it  was  clear  that  Prohibition  was  to  be  the 
fixed  policy  of  the  state,  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
all  former  Democrats  to  work  together  for  the  restora- 
tion of  harmony  in  the  ranks  of  that  much  distracted 
party. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  leaders  of  the  three  elements 
opposed  to  the  regular,  or  Pillsbury,  Democracy,  were 
active  in  perfecting  an  understanding  whereby  the 
opposition  majority  of  the  legislature  could  co-oper- 
ate. This  was  so  far  successful  that  the  house  was 
organized  without  delay  by  the  choice  of  a  Whig 
candidate  for  speaker,  Noah  Smith,  of  Calais,  of 
whom  we  have  heard  before  as  chairman  of  the 
house  committee  which  reported  the  original  Maine 
Law,  and  the  election  as  clerk  of  John  J.  Perry, 
who,  we  will  remember,  was  one  of  the  leaders 
in  the  bolting  convention  which  had  nominated 
Anson  P.  Morrill  for  governor. 

This  done,  attention  was  turned  to  filling  the 
vacancies  in  the  senate  which  by  a  constitutional 
provision  must  be  done  in  a  joint  convention  of  the 
senators-elect  and  the  house.  An  understanding  was 
perfected  among  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  to  the 
regular  Democrats  that  the  vacancies  in  the  senate 
should  be  filled,  as  far  as  constitutional  limitations 
would  permit,   by  those  who  could    be  relied  upon 


488  KEMINISCENCES 

to  vote  for  Morrill,  and  that  tlie  coalition  in  the  house 
would  send  up  to  the  senate  thus  completed  the  names 
of  Morrill  and  Crosby  as  the  constitutional  candi- 
dates for  governor,  of  whom  the  senate  would  choose 
Morrill. 

It  was  also  understood  that  the  Whig-  candidate  for 
the  United  States  senate,  Mr.  Fessenden,  should 
be  elected  through  the  assistance  of  the  Morrill 
Democrats.  It  is  here  proper  to  say  that  it  was  most 
unequivocally  denied  that  there  was  anything  in  the 
nature  of  a  trade  as  to  these  two  offices,  but,  never- 
theless, the  conditions  were  such  that  it  seemed 
inevitable  for  a  time  that  the  Morrill  men,  through 
the  aid  of  some  Whigs,  would  elect  the  governor, 
while  the  latter,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Morrill 
men,  would  obtain  the  senatorship. 

The  regular  Democrats  saw  the  handwriting  on  the 
wall,  and  did  nothing  to  hasten  the  day  of  the  dis- 
comfiture they  expected.  It  reciuired  a  month's  time 
and  an  opinion  from  the  Supreme  Court  before  the 
vacancies  in  the  senate  could  be  filled.  When  at 
length  this  was  done,  it  was  supposed  that  the 
Morrill  men  had  one  more  than  half  of  that  body. 
Now  came  the  choice  of  governor.  Under  the  Consti- 
tution the  house  might  select  either  two  of  the  four 
candidates  who  had  received  the  highest  number  of 
votes.  Under  the  arrangements  referred  to  the  house 
coalition  promptly  sent  up  the  names  of  Crosby  and 
Morrill,  outvoting  the  regular  Democrats  who  sup- 
ported Crosby  and  Pillsbury. 

The  senate  was  now  to  decide.  Unquestionably  a 
majority  of  the  Whigs  in  that  body,  left  to  their  own 
inclination  and  judgment,  would  have  preferred  to 
vote  for  Mr.  Morrill.     But  the  United  States  senator- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  489 

ship  was  yet  to  be  decided  and  was  sure  to  be  affected 
by  the  course  of  the  Whig  senators  on  the  governor- 
ship. On  the  one  hand  it  was  feared  that  if  Morrill 
was  not  made  governor,  his  friends  could  not  be  relied 
upon  to  support  Mr.  Fessenden  for  the  senate.  On 
the  other  hand  it  was  known  that  some  Whigs  would 
bolt  as  to  the  senatorship  if  their  nominee  for  gov- 
ernor was  beaten  by  the  votes  of  Whig  senators. 

In  this  dilemma  the  Whig  leaders  concluded  that 
the  path  of  safety  was  to  be  found  in  party  con- 
sistency. Consequently  they  brought  great  pressure 
to  bear  upon  those  Whig  senators  who  were  thought 
to  incline  toward  Morrill  to  keep  them  in  the  party 
fold.  Some  Whigs  were  in  the  senate  through  the 
assistance  at  the  polls  of  the  Morrill-Democrats  under 
the  promise,  express  or  implied,  that  if  necessary  to 
elect  him  they  would  vote  for  the  candidate  of  the 
Maine-Law  Democracy.  Upon  these,  of  course,  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Morrill  relied.  But,  shortly  before  the 
senate  was  to  vote,  one  Whig  senator,  who  had  been 
depended  upon  to  vote  for  Morrill,  was  called  into  the 
lobby,  where  he  was  labored  with  an  entire  hour  by  a 
coterie  of  leading  Whigs,  who  finally  secured  through 
his  pledge  the  one  vote  needed  to  elect  Crosby.  Then 
the  senate,  having  patiently  awaited  that  proselyt- 
ing process,  proceeded  to  the  choice  of  a  governor. 
Nine  regular  Democrats  and  seven  Whigs,  sixteen  in 
all,  voted  for  Crosby,  and  four  Whigs,  two  regular 
Democrats,  and  nine  Morrill-Democrats,  fifteen  in  all, 
voted  for  Morrill. 

The  result  was  a  profound  surprise  to  everybody 
present,  save  the  three  or  four  Whigs  who  had  con- 
verted their  vacillating  brother.  Commenting  upon 
it,  a  Portland  daily  said: 


490  EEMINISCENCES 

"  All  can  rejoico  in  having  defeated  something,  and  that 
the  Maine  Law  is  safe." 

The  regular  Democrats  were  delighted.  They  were 
pleased  because  a  "bolter"  had  been  punished;  they 
were  sanguine  that  the  back-bone  of  the  coalition  was 
broken,  and  imagined  that  the  "deserters"  in  the 
Morrill  camp  would  come  home  to  be  forgiven,  to 
be  revenged  upon  the  ' '  tricky  "  Whigs,  and  to  act 
thereafter  with  the  Democratic  party.  They  were 
convinced  that  the  Whigs  would  now  be  unable  to 
elect  Mr.  Fessenden  to  the  senate,  and  confidently 
expected  the  success  of  their  own  candidate.  The 
Whig  leaders  ridiculed  these  claims  publicly,  but 
privately  were  anxious.  The  situation  was  critical 
and  no  one  was  able  to  predict  with  certainty  what 
the  outcome  on  the  senatorial  contest  would  be. 

A  generation  has  passed  since  Mr.  Fessenden  first 
entered  the  body  in  which  he  won  distinction  for 
himself  and  influence  for  his  state.  The  circum- 
stances attending  his  first  election  are  not  wholly  out 
of  place  in  this  narrative,  because,  although  the  ques- 
tion of  temperance  and  Prohibition  was  not  involved 
in  it,  his  success  was  the  result  of  disaffections  in 
the  Democratic  party,  largely  growing  out  of  the 
temperance  question,  and  some  of  the  friends  of 
Prohibition,  as  such,  were  instrumental  in  bringing 
it  about.  It  was  a  direct  consequence  of  the  rum-bolt 
against  Governor  Hubbard  in  1852,  to  which,  also,  it 
is  due  in  a  measure  that  no  Democrat  has  since  been 
sent  from  Maine  to  the  United  States  senate. 

The  outcome  of  the  gubernatorial  contest  was  a 
great  disappointment  to  the  friends  of  Mr.  Morrill, 
and  for  a  time  it  was  feared  that  their  votes  could  not 
be  secured  for  Mr.  Fessenden  for  the  senate.     These 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  491 

Morrill  men  were  Democrats,  with  all  the  Democratic 
convictions,  not  to  say  prejudices,  against  Whigs  and 
Whig  policies.  They  were  separated  from  their  former 
political  associates  only  because  of  the  "liberal"  bolt 
against  Hubbard  in  1852,  and  their  consequent  tem- 
perance bolt  against  Pillsbury  in  1858.  They  were 
held  together  only  by  their  devotion  to  their  leader, 
Anson  P.  Morrill,  and  the  principles  they  believed 
would  be  advanced  by  his  elevation  to  the  governor- 
ship. In  this  contingency,  the  interesting  question 
among  all  concerned  was:  What  course  will  Mr. 
Morrill  take  upon  the  senatorship  question  now  that 
he  has  lost  the  governorship  through  the  efforts  of 
the  Whig  leaders  ?  More  interest  was  felt  upon  this 
point  because  the  regular  Democrats,  in  the  hope  of 
capturing  the  following  of  Anson  P.  Morrill,  had 
nominated  his  brother.  Lot  M.  Morrill,  to  whom  he 
was  known  to  be  most  warmly  attached,  as  their 
candidate  for  United  States  senator. 

In  a  consultation  between  Anson  P.  Morrill  and  his 
followers  he  stated  plainly  that  while  he  could  not 
actively  oppose  his  brother  Lot  he  saw  no  good  reason 
in  his  own  defeat  for  governor  to  lead  them  to  recon- 
sider their  previously  formed  determination  to  vote 
for  Fessenden.  Nevertheless,  much  anxiety  was  felt 
among  Mr.  Fessenden 's  Whig  friends  as  to  the  out- 
come. Prominent  temperance  men  who  were  personal 
friends  of  Mr.  Fessenden,  and  others  who  were  glad 
to  punish  the  Democratic  party  for  its  treatment  of 
Hubbard,  also  entered  heartily  into  the  canvass  for 
Mr.  Fessenden,  and  finally  secured  enough  pledges 
from  among  the  Morrill-Democrats  to  ensure  his  elec- 
tion, if  all  the  Whigs  could  be  relied  upon  to  support 
him. 


492  REMINISCENCES 

In  those  days  United  States  senators  were  elected 
by  concurrent  votes  of  the  two  houses,  there  being  no 
joint  ballot,  as  now,  in  case  of  disagreement  between 
senate  and  house.  Mr.  Fessenden  was  certain  to  be 
chosen  on  the  part  of  the  senate,  but  trouble  was 
feared  in  the  lower  branch.  It  was  thought  that  two 
or  three  Whigs  could  not  be  relied  upon  to  vote  for 
him,  if  there  was  any  probability  of  his  election  and 
if  their  defection  could  be  concealed.  Their  supposed 
opposition  was  to  his  credit.  He  was  said  to  have 
inherited  the  antislavery  convictions  of  his  honored 
father,  General  Samuel  Fessenden,  one  of  the  leading 
Free-Soilers  of  the  state.  Then,  too,  the  charges  of 
trading  with  the  Morrill-Democrats  against  Crosby, 
brought  against  some  of  Mr.  Fessenden's  friends,  had 
added  to  the  coolness  of  some  of  the  latter's  party 
associates.  The  viva  voce  vote  was  not  then  required, 
and  the  election  was  to  be  by  ballot.  No  one  could 
know  absolutely  how  his  neighbor  voted.  Neverthe- 
less, because  of  the  ease  of  tracing  the  treason  to  its 
source  if  each  candidate  did  not  get  his  full  party 
strength,  it  was  certain  that  Mr.  Fessenden  would  get 
every  Whig  vote,  unless  by  means  of  the  Morrill  men 
casting  their  ballots  for  him  a  cover  would  be 
afforded  under  which  a  few  Whigs  could  bolt  without 
fear  of  detection  by  their  party  associates.  The  prac- 
tical problem  then  was  how  to  secure  the  Morrill  votes 
for  Fessenden  without  letting  the  Whig  malcontents 
know  that  he  was  to  receive  them  until  too  late  for 
them  to  prevent  his  election. 

It  was  accomplished  in  this  way:  With  some  public- 
ity, an  interview  was  arranged  between  the  Morrill 
Democrats  and  ex-Governor  Hubbard,  to  give  the 
impression  that  they  were  intending  to  vote  for  him. 


OF    NEAL    1>0VV.  493 

The  naturalness  of  such  an  arrangement  gave  color 
to  its  probability.  The  Morrill  men  in  the  legislature 
were  in  a  measure  the  avengers  of  Hubbard's  wrongs. 
But  for  the  Democratic  liquor-bolt  against  him  there 
would  have  been  no  Democratic  temperance-bolt 
against  Pillsbury,  and  the  Morrill  men,  as  such, 
would  not  have  been  in  the  legislature.  It  was 
reasonable  to  think  that  they  might  vote  for  Mr. 
Hubbard,  and  their  support,  with  that  of  the  regular 
Democrats,  would  elect  him  and  thus  pave  the  way 
for  that  union  and  harmony  needed  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Democracy  to  its  control  of  the  state. 

After  this  interview  the  report  was  circulated  that 
Governor  Hubbard  had  been  nominated  by  the 
Morrill  men,  and  that  there  would  be  no  choice  on 
the  first  ballot.  Those  in  the  secret  took  assiduous 
care  that  the  report  should  not  be  contradicted,  lest 
some  of  the  disaffected  Whigs  might  withhold  their 
votes  from  Fessenden.  Accordingly  ballots  were 
printed  for  Governor  Hubbard  and  carefully  distrib- 
uted throughout  the  house  just  before  the  hour  of 
balloting  arrived.  Not  a  Democrat  in  the  legislature, 
and  but  two  Whigs,  knew  what  the  Morrill  men  were 
to  do. 

Mr.  Fessenden  was  one  of  those.  He  and  his  Dem- 
ocratic competitor,  Lot  M.  Morrill,  who  like  himself, 
was  a  member  of  the  house,  had  taken  seats  in  the 
front,  one  on  each  side  of  the  speaker's  desk.  The 
committee  collected  the  votes  and  retired  to  count. 
Its  report  was  to  settle  the  question  which  had  been 
disturbing  the  politicians  of  the  state  for  nearly  two 
years,  yet  there  were  not  twelve  men  awaiting  that 
report  who  supposed  that  the  choice  had  been 
effected.     The  committee  came  in.     Its  announcement 


494  KEMINISCENCES 

was  awaited  and  received  in  dead  silence.  To  the 
great  surprise  of  almost  every  one  present,  it  showed 
the  election  of  Fessenden.  Not  a  word  was  spoken 
for  nearly  a  minute,  which  seemed  fully  five  minutes 
so  great  was  the  strain,  during  which  not  a  sound  was 
heard  in  the  crowded  assembly. 

Finally,  Mr.  Morrill  rose,  and,  almost  staggering  as 
he  walked,  so  great  was  his  nervous  excitement, 
crossed  over  to  the  side  of  Mr.  Fessenden,  shook 
hands  with  him  in  the  presence  of  the  great  crowd 
which  thronged  the  house  and  congratulated  him 
upon  his  success.  The  spell  thus  broken  was 
followed  by  loud  and  long-continued  applause. 
Subsequently  Messrs.  Fessenden  and  Morrill  were 
colleagues  in  the  United  States  senate  as  Republicans, 
and  both  also  afterwards  became  secretaries  of  the 
the  United  States  treasury. 

Though  the  Whigs  had  succeeded,  through  a  pecu- 
liar combination  of  circumstances  that  has  been 
described,  in  electing  both  the  governor  and  United 
States  senator,  before  the  adjournment  of  the  legisla- 
ture it  was  evident  to  far-sighted  politicians  that 
political  conditions  in  the  state  were  undergoing  a 
change,  and  that  the  Whig  party  would  soon  cease  to 
be  an  important  factor  in  the  politics  of  Maine.  The 
old  Democratic  party  was  also  in  its  decline.  The 
organization  of  a  new  party  was  only  a  question  of 
time.  How  it  would  be  brought  into  existence,  and 
what  it  should  represent  when  born,  was  yet  a  matter 
of  uncertainty. 

In  the  spring  of  1853,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Whig 
party  made  no  nomination  for  mayor  in  Portland, 
so  irreconcilable  were  its  contending  factions,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1854  it  did  not  make  the  attempt.     To 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  495 

Bome  extent  the  same  trouble  affected  that  organiza- 
tion in  many  other  municipalities  in  the  state,  while 
the  warring  elements  in  the  Democratic  party  left 
that  in  as  bad  a  condition. 

Whig  and  Democratic  politicians  had  by  this  time 
learned  that  a  larger  number  of  voters  than  ever  were 
interested  in  other  issues  than  as  to  which  of  their 
leaders  should  be  placed  in  office,  and  were  deter- 
mined that  they  would  be  led  by  none  whom  they  did 
not  believe  to  be  sound  upon  the  great  questions  of 
the  prohibition  of  the  liquor-traffic  and  the  non- 
extension  of  slavery,  which  they  had  come  to  regard 
as  of  transcending  political  importance.  How  to  util- 
ize to  the  best  advantage  or  to  avoid  the  unfavorable 
effect  of  this  changed  condition,  were  questions  that 
troubled  immensely  the  mere  time-servers  and  office- 
seekers.  They  were  also  of  grave  concern  to  those 
who  sought  to  evolve  from  the  political  chaos  of  the 
day  the  promotion  of  Prohibition  and  Free-Soil 
principles. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


SPEAKING   TOURS   IN    DIFFERENT   STATES.         MY    NOMINATION 
AND   DEFEAT   AS    A    CANDIDATE   FOR   MAYOR.        THE 
COMBINATION    RESULTING    IN    THE    ELEC- 
TION   OF    ANSON    P.    MORRILL    AS 
GOVERNOR    OF    MAINE. 


Early  in  January,  1854,  I  was  again  in  the  field 
answering  calls  to  speak  in  other  states.  Among  my 
meetings  were  two  great  gatherings  at  Manchester, 
N.  H.  At  one  of  these,  my  second,  two  hours  before 
the  time  arrived  every  seat  was  occupied,  and  an  hour 
before,  the  hall  and  the  adjacent  square  Avere  packed 
with  people.  Tlie  mayor  told  me  that  it  was  a  larger 
crowd  than  had  ever  been  gathered  there,  and  that  it 
numl^ered  at  least  ten  thousand. 

In  January,  also,  I  was  the  guest  at  a  great  banquet 
in  Philadelphia,  where  I  was  the  recipient  of  a  massive 
silver  tea-set,  manufactured  with  si)ecial  design  for 
the  occasion.  The  banquet  i)roved  an  influential 
gathering,  and  was  attended  by  over  fifteen  hundred 
l)eople.  The  presiding  ofiicer  was  Judge  William  D. 
Kelley,  afterwards  so  prominent  in  the  national  house. 
The  presentation  address  was  made  by  Rev.  John 
Chambers,  of  Pliiladelphia. 


REMINISCENCES    OF  NEAL  DOW.  497 

During  this  tour,  I  addressed  the  legislative  com- 
mittees of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  respectively 
in  the  Representatives'  Halls  at  Albany  and  Harris- 
bnrg.  While  I  was  in  New  York  City  this  month, 
Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  addressing  a  great  meeting,  said: 
"I  had  rather  have  the  reputation  of  Neal  Dow  than 
that  of  any  other  man  who  has  ever  lived."  As  I  had 
no  other  reputation  than  that  of  an  earnest  and,  I 
trust,  consistent  opponent  of  a  traffic  I  believed  to  be 
inimical  to  the  welfare,  temporal  and  eternal,  of  my 
fellow-men,  I  saw  in  that  remark  more  than  the 
unmerited  compliment  to  myself  that  might  otherwise 
be  implied  by  it.  It  was  but  Dr.  Tyng's  mode  of  ex- 
pressing his  opinion  of  the  liquor-trade,  and  the  great 
blessing  to  mankind  its  banishment  would  prove. 

March  found  me  in  Connecticut.  Among  other 
towns  which  I  visited  was  Salisbury,  where  were 
preached  the  famous  six  temperance  sermons  by  Rev, 
Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  sermons,  the  reading  of  which, 
in  my  younger  manhood,  had  so  much  to  do  with 
settling  my  conviction  as  to  the  enormity  of  the 
liquor-traffic  and  the  duty  of  good  citizens  to  do  all 
they  properly  could  to  suppress  it. 

During  my  absence  from  home  on  these  tours,  my 
name  was  again  presented  to  the  citizens  of  Portland 
in  connection  with  a  nomination  for  mayor.  Some  of 
our  people  desired  a  more  vigorous  enforcement  of  the 
Maine  Law  than  had  generally  obtained  during  the 
year.  That  was  the  main  reason  for  my  nomination. 
Then  there  were  those  among  the  local  managers  of 
"our  side"  of  the  Whig  party  who,  foreseeing  the 
speedy  dissolution  of  that  organization,  were  anxious 
to  be  in  a  position  to  be  potential  in  the  new  party 
which  they  knew  must  soon  be  formed. 


498  REMINISCENCES 

These  reasons  led  to  a  call  for  a  meeting  of  the 

"  Friends  of  the  Maine  Law."    This  was  held  in  City 

Hall,  which  was  crowded.     Hon.  William  W.  Thomas 

presided.     I  was  unanimously  nominated  for  mayor, 

and  the  meeting  appointed  a  committee  to  select  a 

full    list    of    candidates    for    the    city    government. 

Among  those  selected  for  aldermen  were  William  W. 

Thomas    and   John    M.    Wood.       The    latter   a   few 

months  later  was  nominated  for  Congress.     The  Whig 

daily  paper,  which  opposed  my  election,  said  of  the 

meeting  the  next  morning : 

*'  It  was  very  evident  that  the  great  majority  of  those 
assembled  were  determined  to  nominate  Mr.  Dow,  having 
made  arrang^ements  to  do  so,  and  his  nomination  was  finally 
declared  to  be  unanimously  made,  no  one  taking  the  trouble 
to  dissent." 

My  nomination  was  immediately  followed  by  a  call 
for  a  meeting  of  those  citizens  who  were  favorable  to 
the  re-election  of  Mayor  Cahoon.  This  meeting,  also 
largely  attended,  put  that  gentleman  in  nomination 
again,  and  the  issue  was  declared  by  his  adherents  to 
be  between  a  wise  and  judicious  enforcement  of  the 
Maine  Law,  such  as  they  favored,  and  the  "rash" 
and  "  Tinreasonable  "  one,  such  as  might  be  expected 
from  me.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Cahoon  also  put  in 
nomination  a  full  ticket  for  city  officers,  including 
some  known  to  be  far  from  friendly  to  Prohibition. 

The  lines  being  thus  drawn,  on  the  morning  of  the 
election,  my  friend  Judge  Carter,  who  had  opposed 
my  nomination,  said  in  his  paper,  the  Whig  daily: 

"In  political,  as  well  as  in  other  matters,  there  is  often 
much  more  excitement  about  shadows  than  substance.  It  has 
been  so  in  relation  to  the  municipal  election  which  occurs 
to-day.  If  the  temperance  men  of  this  city  had  expressed 
themselves  satisfied  with  Mr.  Cahoon  (as  they  undoul)tedly 
would,  if  Mr.   Dow  had    previously  started  on  his  contem- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  499 

plated  tour  to  Europe)  we  should  have  witnessed  a  very 
different  state  of  things.  Some  other  candidate  would  have 
been  brought  out,  and  Mr.  Gaboon,  just  as  he  is,  and  having 
executed  the  law  just  as  he  has,  would  have  been  the  Maine- 
Law  candidate,  and  the  bitter  opponents  of  the  law  would 
have  been  arrayed  against  him.  But  Mr.  Dow  was  brought 
out.  The  liquor  men  at  once  saw  their  advantage,  and  were 
not  slow  to  improve  it.  They  knew  very  well  that  this  must 
divide  the  friends  of  temperance  and  they  were  well  con- 
vinced that  Mr.  Gaboon  would  be  elected  by  a  large  majority. 
They  resolved  to  ride  the  winning  horse,  and,  while  the  law 
men  were  grasping  in  different  directions  for  the  shadow, 
they  would  endeavor  to  secure  the  substance.  In  other 
words,  they  conceived  the  idea  of  carrying  in  with  Mr. 
Gaboon  a  majority  of  what  they  term  liberal  men." 

The  election  was  closely  contested,  and  called  out 
a  larger  vote  than  had  been  thrown  in  Portland,  save 
in  1852,  when  fraud  had  been  alleged.  This  year  the 
total  vote  was  3,111,  against  3,399  then  counted.  In 
that  year,  with  one  daily  paper  supporting  me,  I  was 
beaten  by  four  hundred,  while  this  year,  with  all  four 
dailies  against  me,  my  competitor  led  me  with  one 
hundred  and  three  votes.  I  was  absent  during  the 
canvass,  reaching  home  at  noon  on  the  day  of  election. 
A  few  days  before  I  had  written  from  Watertown, 
Conn. : 

"  I  have  been  so  incessantly  engaged  and  on  the  move  that 
I  have  had  no  time  to  think  of  affairs  at  Portland.  I  do  not 
permit  myself  to  feel  the  least  anxiety  about  them.  If  our 
friends  will  do  their  duty  I  leave  all  else  to  a  kind  Provi- 
dence, and  whatever  may  be  the  result  I  shall  cheerfully 
acquiesce.  I  sometimes  think  I  might  do  more  good,  per- 
haps, by  sowing  the  seeds  of  the  Maine  Law  ail  over  our  land 
than  I  can  in  that  position." 

There  were  those  who  believed  that,  had  I  been  at 
home  and  able  to  lend  personal  assistance,  my  elec- 
tion would  have  followed,  but  very  likely  they  were 
mistaken  in  this  —  the  majority  against    me  might 


500  REMINISCENCES 

liave  been  larger.      The  Whig  daily  paper  the  day 

after  election   said  that   the  Dow  men  had  elected 

fifteen  members  of  the  city  council  to  twelve  of  the 

opposition.     It  went  on  to  say: 

"  There  is,  therefore,  unquestional)ly  a  decided  majority  of 
botli  ])raiiches  of  the  city  government  in  favor  of  a  vigorous 
execution  of  the  liquor-law.  This  result  of  the  election, 
under    all    the    circumstances,    is  a  strong  indication    of  the 

strength  of  the  law  in  this  city We  have  been  of 

the  o^^inion  that  the  law  itself,  disconnected  from  all  other 
considerations,  would  poll  at  least  a  majority  of  eight  hun- 
dred in  this  city,  and  the  result  of  this  election  has  confirmed 
us  in  that  opinion." 

That  amounted  to  an  intimation  that  the  medicine 
was  more  popular  than  the  doctor  who  had  been 
prescribing  it,  but  I  was  quite  content,  my  aim  was 
not  popularity. 

Mayor    Calioon,    referring    to    temperance    in    his 

inaugural  address,  said: 

"  In  1826,  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  licenses  were 
granted  to  retailers  and  victualers  in  this  city,  and  our 
population  was  not  probably  more  than  two-thirds  the 
present  number.  Under  the  present  laws  there  are  no 
licenses  and  no  public  and  open  places  where  licpors  are  to 

be  sold Friends  of  temperance  may  honestly  differ  with 

regard  to  the  best  measures  to  be  adopted  to  eradicate  the 
evil,  l)ut  all  will  unite  in  the  opinion  that  it  is  the  great 
source  of  most  of  the  misery,  crime,  and  wretchedness  of 
the  land,  and  that  the  most  efficient  measures  should  be 
adopted  to  accomplish  the  greatest  amount  of  good.  These 
are  no  new  princijiles  with  me,  for  I  have  entertained  them 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  my  practice  has  been  in 
accordance  therewith." 

Again  my  defeat  as  a  candidate  for  mayor  unques- 
tionably led  to  the  growth  of  Maine-Law  sentiment 
throughout  the  country,  as  it  left  me  free  to  respond 
to  invitations  to  speak,  which  I  must  otherwise  have 
declined.     As  it  was,  a  considerable  portion  of  my 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  501 

time  was  given  toward  tlie  propagation  of  that  policy. 
During  May  I  filled  a  series  of  appointments  in  Dela- 
ware, including  all  the  larger  places  in  the  state. 
June  and  July  found  me  in  the  British  Provinces. 
The  latter  part  of  July  and  the  first  of  August,  were 
spent  in  New  York  state,  where,  during  a  portion  of 
my  stay,  I  was  the  guest  of  Edward  C.  Delevan,  in  his 
delightful  country  home. 

This  year  the  Ashbury  University,  of  Indiana,  con- 
ferred on  me  the  title  of  LL.  D.  I  was  reminded  by  it 
that  a  great  deal  of  fun  was  occasioned  when  Cam- 
bridge University,  years  before,  paid  a  similar  honor 
to  President  Jackson.  I  rightly  anticipated  that  the 
press  of  the  country  would  have  many  jokes  over  this, 
and  for  a  while  they  rung  the  changes  upon  it  to  as 
great  an  extent  and  variety  as  ready  wit  or  versatile 
fancy  could  suggest. 

Much  of  my  time  in  the  summer  of  1854  was  given 
to  aiding  the  efforts  to  consolidate,  into  an  effective 
party  organization,  those  who,  on  the  one  hand,  as  to 
state  politics,  were  favorable  to  the  Maine  Law,  and 
those  who  as  to  national  issues  disapproved  of  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  the  alleged 
tendency  of  the  Democratic  party  at  the  time  to  serve 
the  will  of  southern  statesmen  as  to  slavery. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  Democratic  party, 
once  all-powerful  in  Maine,  had,  through  its  dissen- 
sions over  the  Maine  Law,  lost  control  of  the  state. 
It  was  by  this  time  evident  to  most  men  of  ordinary 
political  discernment  that  a  re-alignment  of  voters  in 
Maine  was  inevitable  and  immediately  impending. 
The  Whig  national  organization  was  tottering  to  its 
fall,  not  more  because  of  its  crushing  defeat  in  1852 
than  from  its   inability  to  cope  with  the  new  and 

33 


502  KEMIXISCENCES 

grave  political  problems  demanding  solution.  Long 
years  of  adversity  had  developed  in  most  Maine 
Whigs  an  unconquerable  aversion  even  to  the  name  of 
the  Democratic  party,  and  they  desired  a  permanent 
political  al^iding-place  where  they  might  effectively 
indulge  their  hostility  to  the  Democracy  and  to  what 
it  represented.  It  was  evident  that  it  was  high  time 
for  them  to  be  looking  out  for  a  new  party  home.  A 
Idrge  contingent,  therefore,  from  tliis  moribund  organ- 
ization could  be  relied  upon  for  a  new  departure. 

The  Free-Soilers  controlled  about  ten  per  cent  of 
the  popular  vote,  and  were  stronger  in  their  convic- 
tions than  at  the  polls.  The  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  and  the  passage  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  for 
which  one  Democratic  representative  from ,  Maine  had 
voted,  had  raised  a  storm  of  excitement  in  the  state, 
sure  to  inure  to  the  promotion  of  their  principles,  if 
not  to  increase  the  votes  that  might  be  thrown  under 
the  name  of  their  political  organization.  The  time, 
therefore,  seemed  ripe  for  a  consolidation  of  the 
elements  which,  in  the  quadrangular  contest  of 
1853,  had  left  the  Democrats  in  a  minority  of  about 
eleven  thousand  on  the  ijopular  vote,  and  the  leaders 
of  these  various  elements  had  come  to  seriously  con- 
sider the  feasibility  of  a  new  political  union  under 
a  common   political  name. 

Earnestly  antislavery  in  my  convictions,  and  irre- 
vocably opposed  to  the  extension  of  the  peculiar 
institution,  I  was  naturally  anxious  that  Maine 
should  take  a  right  position  on  that  question.  But 
I  was  determined,  so  far  as  I  could  influence  events, 
that  this  should  be  done  without  imperiling  Prohibi- 
tion. I  believed  that  i)olicy  right  and  its  enforcement 
sure  to  contribute  to  the  moral  weal  and  the  material 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  503 

prosj3erity  of  the  state,  and  therefore  a  matter  of  ^reat 
importance,  none  more  so,  to  our  people.  Again  I 
was  confident  that  it  would  prove  a  great  element  of 
strength  in  the  new  combination,  as  it  had  been  the 
most  potent  agency  in  the  overthrow  of  tlie  Demo- 
cratic party  in  the  state.  Though,  as  has  been  seen, 
the  question  of  Prohibition  had  become  a  political 
matter  rather  by  the  action  of  its  opponents  than 
of  its  friends,  conditions  had  now  become  such'  tliat 
the  cordial  co-operation  of  the  Maine-Law  men  would 
be  necessary  to  secure  votes  enough  to  throw  the 
influence  of  Maine  nationally  in  opposition  to  the 
further  encroachments  of  slavery. 

With  a  number  of  other  men  more  or  less  interested 
in  public  affairs,  and  each,  perhaps,  actuated  by  some- 
what different  motives,  I  earnestly  and  industriously 
addressed  myself  to  bringing  aboTit  a  union  at  the 
polls  of  the  various  elements  which  for  one  reason  or 
another  were  antagonistic  to  the  old  Democratic 
party  in  the  state. 

Before  the  adjournment  of  the  legislature,  in  the 
spring  of  1854,  signs  of  political  chaos  were  abundant. 
The  Morrill-Pillsbury  breach  in  the  Democratic  party 
had  become  wider  than  ever.  Early  in  April,  the 
Morrill  men  in  the  legislature  had  united  in  a  request 
to  the  state  committee  of  that  element,  appointed  the 
year  before,  to  call  a  mass  convention  to  nominate 
a  candidate  for  governor.  In  this  they  styled  them- 
selves "Democratic  members  of  the  legislature,"  and 
asked  that  the  call  for  the  mass-meeting  be  addressed 
to  "our  political  friends,"  thus  testifying  to  their 
belief  that  the  old  Democratic  name  was  yet  potent  in 
the  politics  of  Maine. 

Prior  to  this  action,  a  circular-call  for  a  mass  con- 


504  REMIXISCENCES 

ventioii  of  the  Democratt^  in  the  state  had  been  issued 
by  quite  a  number  of  "liberal"  gentlemen,  whose 
avowed  desire  was  to  "allay  personal  jealousies  and 
dissensions  both  in  the  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party 
and  among  all  who  are  disposed  to  promote  the 
ascendency  of  liberal  views." 

It  was  proposed  that  this  convention  "nominate  a 
candidate  for  governor,  and  adopt  all  needful  meas- 
ures to  assure  the  united  support  by  all  liberal 
electors  of  the  nomination  that  shall  be  so  made." 

Just  what  "liberalism"  in  Maine  at  that  time 
meant  may  be  best  shown  by  a  quotation  from 
the  resolutions  adopted  at  a  meeting  of  ' '  liber- 
als" held  in  one  of  the  legislative  representative 
districts  in  Cumberland  county,  which  were  subse- 
quently widely  circulated.  The  Maine  liquor-law 
was  denounced  as  iniquitous,  uncalled-for,  and  un- 
just; and  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  abolitionism  and  the  Maine-Law  men,  or 
the  effect  of  them,  have  ])roken  down  both  the  old  political 
parties  in  Maine,  and  planted  on  their  ruins  (or  at  least 
attempted  to  do  so)  a  code  of  laws  or  moral  reform  unknown 
to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  this  republic,  and  in  deroga- 
tion of  both. 

"  Kesolved,  That  the  people  of  Maine  are  yet  able  to 
govern  themselves,'  the  opinion  of  William  Pitt  Fessenden  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding." 

The  resolves  further  called  for  an  early  organiza- 
tion of  all  liberal-minded  men  as  all-important  for 
the  peace,  prosperity,  and  happiness  of  the  people  of 
Maine,  and  charged  that  "negro  and  Maine-Law 
nonsense  is  the  sole  cause  of  all  the  secret  juggling, 
chicanery,  and  villainy  practiced  in  the  electioneer- 
ing, both  out  of  and  in  the  legislature." 

The  circular-call  referred  to  was  denounced  by  reg- 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  505 

iilar  Democrats  in  most  positive  terms,  a  sample  of 
which  is  taken  from  a  Democratic  paper  published  in 
Bangor  : 

"  It  is  a  second,  and  more  delil)erate  and  mature  movement 
than  the  first,  to  array  in  political  contest  a  series  of  political 
and  unpolitical  measures  against  their  opposites ;  to  array 
the  sham  democracy  against  the  true  democracy ;  rum 
against  prohil)itory  anti-liquor  statutes ;  slavery  extension 
against  slavery  restriction  ;  Douglass  and  Nebraska  dough- 
faceism  against  Houston,  Benton,  and  freedom  ;  '  the  danijer- 
ous  classes'  against  the  conservatives,  the  public  morals  and 
domestic  peace  and  prosperity." 

In  response  to  the  ' '  liberal  "  call  a  mass  convention 
assembled  in  Portland  on  the  15th  of  June,  and 
passed  a  series  of  thirteen  resolutions,  mainly  devoted 
to  denunciation  of  the  Maine  Law,  declaring  it  to  be 
"justly  obnoxious  to  all  odious  characteristics  that 
can  define  a  bad  law,"  and  insisting  that  it  ought  to 
be  repealed  without  delay. 

Largely  made  up,  as  it  was,  of  men  who  under  the 
provisions  of  that  law  had  been  driven  from  a  direct 
or  indirect  participation  in  the  liquor-traffic,  the 
convention  insisted  ' '  that  it  becomes  the  time  friends 
of  temperance  throughout  the  state  to  join  in  efi'ecting 
a  repeal  of  the  Maine  Law,  as  demoralizing  to  the 
citizen,  destructive  to  the  just  pride  and  the  peace  of 
society,"  and  expressed  itself  as  desiring  "a  substitute 
for  that  measure  which  should  bring  to  punishment 
all  known  abuses  of  the  sale  a^id  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  and  discourage  hypocrisy  among  all  classes 
of  men  in  the  use  of  such." 

A  committee  of  two  from  each  county  was  appointed 
to  select  a  candidate.  Some  merriment  was  created 
in  the  convention  by  the  announcement  of  the  names 
of  the  members  chosen  for  that  committee  by  one 


506  REMINISCENCES 

county.  These  were  reported,  without  the  mention 
of  their  given  names  or  initials,  as  respectively  Mr. 
Neal  and  Mr.  Dow.  Hearty  hisses  were  given  for  the 
man  brought  to  mind  by  those  two  names,  which  gave 
place  to  laughter  and  applause  upon  the  suggestion 
that  "a  liberal,  like  a  rose,  is  just  as  sweet  by  any 
name."  It  was  not  surprising  that  a  committee 
representing  a  convention  assembled  for  such  a  pur- 
pose and  influenced  by  such  considerations  should 
promptly  agree.  Upon  taking  a  ballot  every  member 
of  the  committee  voted  for  Shepard  Gary.  That 
gentleman  was  unanimously  nominated  by  the  con- 
vention as  the  best  embodiment  of  its  views  and 
intent. 

The  Morrill-Democrats  again  presented  their  leader 
on  a  platform  endorsing  the  Maine  Law  and  con- 
demning the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
This  was  done  in  a  convention  which  gave  many 
indications  of  proving  more  troublesome  to  the  regu- 
lar Democracy  than  in  the  previous  year,  which  party 
thus  threatened  with  a  loss  of  radicals  on  both  sides 
of  the  Maine-Law  question,  and  harassed  by  doubts 
as  to  the  extent  of  the  trouble  to  be  encountered 
on  national  issues,  found  itself  in  an  embarrassing 
situation. 

The  Democratic  organization  could  hope  for  noth- 
ing from  the  "liberals"  unless  it  could  "out-cary 
Gary"  in  its  candidate.  It  did  not  dare  to  attempt 
that,  for  with  less  of  a  "liberal"  than  Gary  it  had 
lost  more  Azotes  than  it  could  spare  at  the  last 
election.  It  therefore  concluded  to  look  elsewhere 
than  to  the  unpronounced  liberals  in  its  party  from 
among  whom  it  had  taken  Pillsbury  the  year  before, 
and  take  its  candidate  from  its  "moderate"  Maine- 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  507 

Law  men,  in  the  hope  of  holding  what  Prohibitionists 
there  were  left  in  the  party  and  possibly  of  winning 
back  some  it  had  lost  in  1853. 

In  the  matter  of  a  platform,  the  "regular"  Demo- 
cratic convention  dodged  all  issues,  preferring  to 
make  its  fight  to  recover  its  lost  supremacy  upon  the 
record  and  high  character  and  standing  of  its  candi- 
date. In  this  exigency  and  for  this  purpose  it  chose 
for  its  leader  no  less  a  man  than  ex-Governor  Parris, 
who,  to  his  high  personal  merits  and  long  and  distin- 
guished early  public  career,  had  recently  added  the 
prestige  of  having  been  elected  mayor  of  the  Whig 
city  of  Portland  by  a  large  majority  over  a  Whig  can- 
didate who  had  polled  a  larger  vote  than  any  other 
Whig  ever  elected  to  its  mayoralty.  Now,  full  of 
years  and  honors,  Grovernor  Parris  was  taken  from  the 
repose  of  private  citizenship,  which  he  had  fairly 
earned  and  earnestly  desired,  in  the  hope  that  his 
name  and  fame  would  restore  harmony  to  his  party 
and  lead  it  back  to  the  enjoyment  of  place  and  power. 
But  it  was  too  late.  What  the  name  of  Governor 
Parris  might  possibly  have  done  in  1853  was  impos- 
sible of  accomplishment  in  1854. 

By  this  time  the  Whig  party  had  held  its  state  con- 
vention, and  had  adopted  a  platform  similar  in  its 
reference  to  the  important  issues  of  Prohibition  and 
slavery  to  that  of  the  Morrill  men.  Our  old  friend, 
Noah  Smith,  of  Calais,  with  his  reputation  as  a  "ram- 
rod "  Maine-Law  man,  only  missed  receiving  its  nomi- 
nation for  governor  by  a  few  votes,  and  what  proved 
to  be  that  empty  honor  was  awarded  to  Isaac  Reed 
of  Waldoboro. 

Mr.  Reed  was  a  citizen  of  property,  probity,  and 
ability.      He  had  served  one  term  in  Congress,  and 


508  KEMINISCENCES 

stood  liigli  in  the  estimation  of  his  party  throughout 
the  state.  In  his  own  town  of  Waldoboro  he  was 
all-powerful,  politically,  and  had  demonstrated  that 
power  in  a  way  which  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  a  local 
political  leader.  While  the  state  was  overwhelm- 
ingly Democratic,  he  made  and  kept  his  town  a  Whig 
stronghold,  and  when,  upon  the  dissolution  of  the 
Whig  party,  most  of  its  following  went  into  the 
Hepublican  ranks,  he  led  the  Waldoboro  Whigs  into 
the  camp  of  his  old-time  opponents,  making  the  town 
as  positively  Democratic  as  it  had  formerly  been 
reliably  Whig — ^  almost  exactly  reversing  in  a  total 
vote  of  between  seven  and  eight  hundred,  a  more 
than  two  to  one  margin. 

An  incident  growing  out  of  this  fact  illustrates  the 
extensive  knowledge  Horace  Greeley  had  of  political 
details  all  over  the  country.  The  veteran  editor  was 
in  Maine  in  the  winter  of  1871-72.  He  was  to  deliver 
a  lecture  in  Rockland,  and  my  son,  from  whom  I  have 
the  story,  happened  to  l^e  in  the  same  train  with  him, 
sharing  his  seat  between  Brunswick  and  that  city. 
When  the  conductor  announced  "Waldoboro!" 
through  Avhich  town  the  train  passed,  Mr.  Greeley 
said:  "Waldoboro!  This  is  the  home  of  Isaac 
Reed."  He  then  went  on  to  say:  "Mr.  Reed  is 
one  of  the  few  men  wlio,  by  changing  their  political 
faith,  have  l^een  able  to  influence  any  considerable 
number  of  their  fellow-citizens  to  change  their 
politics.  AVhen  Mr.  Reed  was  a  Whig,  Waldoboro 
was  strongly  so;  when  he  became  a  Democrat,  he 
made  Waldoboro  as  strongly  Democratic."  And 
having  had  his  attention  in  that  Avay  called  to  the 
subject,  Mr.  Greeley  commented  with  similar  accu- 
racy upon  the  politics  of  other  towns  along  the  line 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  509 

of  the  road  as  their  names  were  announced  at  the 
various  stations. 

In  November  of  the  year  that  Mr.  Greeley  made 
that  reference  to  Mr.  Reed,  he  was  himself  to  furnish 
a  striking  illustration  of  the  unwillingness  of  the 
American  people  to  take  kindly  to  strange  political 
fellowship,  even  at  the  call  of  one  who  had  long 
been  their  teacher  in  matters  pertaining  to  politics. 
Happily,  with  the  spread  of  general  intelligence,  and 
wider  means  of  obtaining  special  information,  this 
tendency  among  the  people  to  self-reliance  is  sure  to 
increase. 

There  were  now  four  gul3ernatorial  candidates  in 
the  field,  a  Whig,  a  "regular"  Democrat,  a  Maine- 
Law  Democrat,  and  an  anti-Maine  Law  Democrat. 
Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  prospect  for  the 
Whig  candidate  to  obtain  a  plurality  of  the  popular 
vote,  as  it  had  not  since  1840,  was  exceedingly  good. 
But  a  state  temperance  convention  was  now  held, 
over  which  I  presided.  The  convention  endorsed  the 
candidacy  of  Mr.  Morrill  with  an  unequivocal  —  as  it 
may  easily  be  believed,  for  I  had  drawn  it  myself  — 
Maine-Law  resolution,  one  which,  by  the  way,  I  had 
taken  the  precaution  to  learn,  would  be  entirely  satis- 
factory to  the  candidate  nominated  upon  it.  This  was 
immediately  followed  by  the  Free-Soil  endorsement  of 
Mr.  Morrill,  who  was  as  reliable  an  exponent  of  the 
views  of  that  party  upon  the  slavery  issue  as  he  was  of 
the  temperance  men  upon  Prohibition.  That  party 
was  also  earnestly  favorable  to  the  latter,  as  witness 
its  support  of  Hubbard  in  1852  upon  that  distinct 
issue,  and  as  is  also  shown  by  its  platform  and  candi- 
date for  governor  in  1853. 

Of  the  candidates  who  were  now  in  nomination. 


510  REMINISCENCES 

two,  Mr.  Morrill  and  Mr.  Reed,  occupied  substan- 
tially the  same  ground,  as  far  as  could  be  judged 
by  public  declarations.  It  was,  however,  generally 
understood  that  Mr.  Morrill  was  a  "  ramrod, "  favor- 
ing enforced  Prohibition,  while  Mr.  Reed  was 
regarded  as  more  nearly  reflecting  the  views  of  those 
'•moderate "  men  who,  anxious  not  to  injure  or  offend 
any  interest,  were  sometimes  described  as  being  "in 
favor  of  the  Maine  Law  but  opposed  to  its  execution." 
As  the  campaign  progressed,  this  was  seen  to  be  a 
distinction  with  quite  a  difference,  having  marked 
results  upon  the  Whig  vote  in  the  balloting. 

There  was  more  time  to  perfect  a  union  in  congres- 
sional matters.  In  the  Second  district,  there  were 
distinct  conventions  of  Morrill-Democrats,  Whigs 
and  Free-Soilers;  each  made  a  conditional  nomination 
and  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  a  similar 
committee  from  the  other  two  conventions,  with 
instructions  to  agree,  if  practicable,  upon  a  can- 
didate. The  decision  of  the  conference  was  that 
Gen.  John  J.  Perry,  the  nominee  of  the  first  named 
convention,  should  be  selected,  and  his  candidacy 
was  endorsed  by  the  other  two  organizations. 

In  the  First  district  the  nomination  was  made  in  a 
mass  convention.  Public  sentiment  had  been  espe- 
cially aroused  in  this  district  by  the  vote  of  its 
Democratic  representative  for  the  Nebraska  Bill, 
and  the  convention  was  a  large,  most  earnest,  and 
enthusiastic  gathering.  It  selected  with  practical 
unanimity  John  M.  Wood,  of  Portland,  as  its  candi- 
date for  Congress. 

As  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  time,  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  say  that  Mr.  Wood  would  not  have  been  a 
candidate    for    this    nomination    if  I    had    been   an 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  511 

aspirant  for  it.  But  three  months  before  his  nomina- 
tion for  Congress  he  had  been  a  candidate  on  the 
"Dow  ticket "  for  alderman  in  the  Portland  munici- 
pal election,  and  he  and  I  were  warm  personal  friends. 
Some  time  prior  to  the  district  convention,  Mr. 
Wood  came  to  me  and  urged  me  to  be  a  candidate 
for  the  congressional  nomination,  stating  that  he 
would  not  allow  his  name  to  be  used  and  pledging 
his  warm  support  —  he  then  owned  the  leading  paper 
in  the  district  —  if  I  would  consent.  In  the  course  of 
this  conversation  he  told  me  that  a  large  "liberal" 
element  opposed  to  me  in  municipal  politics  would 
heartily  favor  my  nomination  for  Congress,  in  the 
hope  that  it  would  tend  to  modify  my  radicalism  on 
the  temperance  question,  and  in  the  fond  belief  that 
my  election  to  the  national  house  would  place  me 
where  I  would  be  less  troublesome  to  them  upon 
that  issue.  I  had  no  doubt  whatever  either  of  the 
sincere  friendship  of  Mr.  Wood,  or  of  the  wish  of  the 
liberals  that  my  radical  temperance  views  might  be 
softened,  but  my  tastes  and  convictions  of  duty 
impelled  me  to  put  a  negative  upon  the  suggestion. 

The  Maine  Law  did  not  enter  directly  into  the 
nomination  of  congressional  candidates.  Indeed,  in 
a  speech  in  the  mass  convention  where  I  was  called 
upon  to  vouch  for  Mr.  Wood,  because  he  was  a 
comparative  stranger  outside  of  Portland,  I  had 
said  that  the  only  issue  there  was  the  opposition  to 
the  extension  of  slavery,  and  with  reference  to  that 
evil,  men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  on  other  questions 
could  act  together.  Nevertheless,  the  temperance 
men  had  been  determined  that  the  influence  per- 
taining to  the  candidacy  for  Congress  in  the  coalition, 
which  was    the    advance    agent    of    the  new  party, 


512  EEMINISCENCES 

should  not  be  on  tlie  ^\^ong  side  of  the  Maine-Law 
controversy. 

Many  Whigs  recognized  the  necessity  for  this  even 
if  they  did  not  like  it.  Mr.  Wood,  a  particular  friend 
of  mine,  and  a  Maine-Law  man,  with  the  courage  of 
his  convictions,  and  thus  acceptable  to  "our  wing," 
was  for  other  reasons  very  satisfactory  to  the  other 
element.  The  Democratic  press  of  the  district 
essayed  to  rouse  the  old  straight  Whig  prejudices 
by  insisting  that  the  Fusion  nominee  was  a  "Neal- 
Dow-Maine-Law  man."  Though  they  met  with  a 
degree  of  success  in  drawing  "liberals"  from  the 
support  of  Mr.  Wood,  he  was  elected  by  a  plurality  of 
about  three  thousand  in  a  district  which  two  years 
before  had  given  a  Democratic  plurality  of  over 
thirty-eight  hundred. 

On  the  same  general  plan  selections  were  made  in 
two  of  the  other  four  congressional  districts.  In  one 
district  the  Whig  candidate  had  served  one  term  and 
had  voted  against  the  Nebraska  Bill,  but  he  was  an 
outspoken  opponent  of  the  Maine  Law,  and  its  friends 
would  not  vote  for  him.  They  supported  in  that  dis- 
trict a  candidate  of  their  own,  who  was  elected.  In 
the  other  district,  where  fusion  was  not  effected,  the 
regular  Democratic  candidate  was  elected  by  a  small 
plurality,  his  leading  competitor  being  the  Free-Soil 
nominee.  With  this  exception  the  Democratic  can- 
didates for  Congress  were  defeated.  The  coalition 
was  also  perfected  in  a  majority  of  the  legislative  dis- 
tricts, and  as  to  candidates  ui)on  most  of  the  county 
tickets. 

In  the  county  conventions  generally,  resolutions 
similar  to  the  following,  adopted  in  Portland,  were 
made  a  part  of  the  platform: 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  513 

"Resolved,  That  this  convention  approves  of  tlie  law  com- 
monly known  as  the  Maine  Law,  and  is  in  favor  of  its  vigor- 
ous enforcement." 

Temperance  conventions  were  held  in  various  coun- 
ties in  the  state.  At  many  of  these  I  spoke,  as  did 
Candidate  Morrill.  Here  I  may  say  that  in  this  cam- 
paign our  acquaintance,  already  formed,  was  perfected 
into  a  warm,  strong,  and  abiding  friendship,  which 
lasted  as  long  as  he  lived.  At  all  of  these  con- 
ventions resolutions  endorsing  his  candidacy  were 
adopted,  and  committees  were  appointed  to  aid  his 
canvass.  Ordinarily,  these  committees  included  men 
who  in  the  last  campaign  had  voted  for  the  Whig  and 
Free-Soil  candidates  for  governor,  as  well  as  those 
known  as  Morrill-Democrats. 

Mr.  Morrill  was  a  vigorous  and  effective  speaker, 
and  his  bold,  manly  and  unequivocal  endorsement  of 
Prohibition  attracted  temperance  Whigs  to  his  sup- 
port. This  led  to  restiveness  on  the  part  of  some  of 
the  liberal  Whigs,  who,  alleging  that  "ramrod" 
members  of  their  party  were  going  to  bolt  the  Whig 
nominee  for  governor,  devoted  themselves  to  creating 
as  much  trouble  as  possible  in  the  matter  of  nomina- 
tions for  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature,  generally 
made  on  the  eve  of  election,  to  the  end  that,  in  the 
event  of  a  failure  to  elect  by  the  people,  Morrill's 
name  should  not  be  sent  by  the  house  to  the  senate  as 
one  of  the  two  constitutional  candidates  for  governor. 
This  only  tended,  however,  to  swell  the  number  of 
temperance  Whigs  determined  to  vote  for  Morrill, 
with  the  result  that  about  all  of  the  Whig  party 
left  to  support  its  candidate  was  that  portion  of  it 
opposed  to  Prohibition.  That  remnant  could  find 
little    comfort,    however,    in   voting    for    Mr.    Reed, 


514  KEMINISCENCES 

because,  as  we  have  seen,  he,  as  well  as  Mr.  Morrill, 
had  committed  himself  to  the  Maine  Law. 

About  this  time  the  Know-Nothing  organization 
had  established  numerous  lodges  in  the  state  and  had 
acquired  some  political  strength.  To  those  of  us  who 
remember  the  anxiety  with  which  membership  in  that 
organization  was  sought  by  Whigs  and  Democrats 
alike,  in  order  to  control  it,  the  fear  in  these  latter 
years  lest  connection  with  it  be  remembered  is 
something  amusing.  However,  by  this  time,  it  had 
become  apparent  that  the  opposition  to  the  Democracy 
was  in  the  saddle  of  the  order,  and  just  prior  to  the 
election  its  endorsement  of  Mr.  Morrill  was  secured, 
much  to  the  disgust  of  its  Democratic  contingent. 

There  was  no  election  of  governor  by  the  people. 
Mr.  Morrill,  with  over  44,500  votes,  a  larger  number 
than  had  been  given  to  a  candidate  for  ten  years, 
lacked  about  1,500  of  a  majority.  Governor  Parris 
had  over  28,000,  Mr.  Eeed,  the  Whig  leader,  about 
14,000,  while  the  avowed  anti-Maine  Law  candidate, 
Mr.  Cary,  received  about  3,500. 

Twenty-one  senators  were  elected.  Eleven  of  them 
were  Whigs,  five,  Morrill-Democrats,  and  five,  Free- 
Soilers,  all  chosen  on  coalition  tickets.  To  the  house 
the  coalition  had  chosen  forty-four  Whigs,  forty-two 
Morrill-Democrats,  and  twenty-three  Free-S  oilers. 
Forty-two  straight  Democrats  were  also  elected. 
The  complexion  of  the  legislature  was  such  that 
the  Maine  Law  was  safe,  and  its  representative 
standard-bearer  before  the  people  was  sure  to  be  the 
next  governor. 

Some  figures  here  may  be  interesting.  In  the  cities, 
and  those  towns  which  have  since  become  cities,  the 
popular  vote  was  as  follows:     Regular  Whig  2,243; 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  515 

regular  Democrat,  3,698;  Maine-Law,  9,731;  anti- 
Maine  Law,  425.  There  was  nothing  in  those 
returns,  surely,  to  lead  an  ordinarily  sensible  poli- 
tician to  doubt  the  strength  of  a  moral  issue  before 
intelligent,  aroused  and  organized  voters. 

Such  was  the  result  of  the  contest  between  the 
hastily  assembled  Fusion  forces  and  what  was  left 
of  the  old-time  Democratic  party  of  Maine.  The 
end  had  been  attained  through  the  presentation 
of  questions  which  appealed  to  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  the  people;  through  the  courage  of  the 
men  in  charge  of  the  movement,  and  by  the  measures 
they  had  taken  for  educating  and  organizing  the 
masses.  It  was  the  fruit  of  years  of  self-sacrificing, 
unremitting  toil  on  the  part  of  scores  of  men,  who, 
unknown  to  fame,  had  unselfishly  and  unceasingly 
labored  for  what  they  believed  to  be  right. 

The  leading  Democratic  daily  of  the  state,  com- 
menting upon  the  result,  said: 

*'  But  it  is  obvious  that  nothing  has  contributed  so  much  to 
weaken  and  disorganize  the  majority  party  in  Maine  during 

the  last  three  years,  as  the  Maine-Law  question The 

same  issue  has  given  to  the  Democratic  party  nothing  but 
disaster.  It  has  elected  no  governor  since  the  law  passed. 
Hubbard  was  defeated  in  1852,  and  Pillsbury  in  1853,  and 

Judge    Parris  has  failed  of   an  election  in  1854 We 

say,  then,  that  the  Nebraska  question  was  not  the  foundation 
of  our  late  defeat." 

The  leading  Whig  organ  said : 

"The  temperance  reformation  has  extended  into  many  of 
the  benio-hted  strons-holds  of  the  sham  Democracv.  It  has 
been  like  letting  the  sun  into  low,  damp  places  from  which  it 
had  been  heretofore  excluded.  The  fog  and  darkness  which 
had  settled  down  upon  them  were  dissipated,  and  all  began  to 
assume  a  new  aspect.  It  is  thus  that  the  Maine-Law  question 
has  contributed  so  much  to  weaken  and  disorganize  the 
majority    party   in    Maine." 


516  KEMINISCENCES 

The  leading  Maine-Law  paper  said: 

"  Our  friends  abroad  will  be  gratified  to  learn  that  in  our 
late  state  election  the  Maine  Law  was  completely  triumphant. 
It  is  now  a  fixed  fact  that  so  far  as  Maine  is  con- 
cerned the  old  parties  are  broken  up,  and  they  can  never  be 
reorganized  upon  the  old  issues  that  once  divided  them. 
There  is  no  reason  why  these  men  should  not  con- 
tinue to  act  together,  indeed  there  are  many  cogent  reasons 

why  they  should  hereafter  constitute  one  party As  to 

the  name  of  this  new  party,  it  is  already  sufficiently  indicated. 
Our  friends  in  Franklin  county  have  got  the  start  of  the  rest 
of  the  state  and  have  organized  their  forces  as  the  '  Republi- 
can '  party,  and  this  appears  to  us  to  be  the  name  with  which 
to  christen  this  new  organization." 

Thereafter  the  men  who  in  1854  acted  together, 
came  to  be  called,  and  to  call  themselves,  by  that 
name  by  which  the  new  party  in  the  state  was  for- 
mally baptized  on  the  22d  of  February,  1855. 

After  the  election  of  1854,  I  resumed  my  campaign- 
ing for  the  Maine  Law  in  other  states,  responding  to 
as  many  calls  to  speak  as  possible,  selecting  from 
among  them  such  as  I  thought  opened  the  widest 
opportunity  for  usefulness.  Among  other  meetings 
which  I  addressed  was  that  of  the  Legislative  Temper- 
ance society  in  Kepresentatives'  Hall,  in  Boston. 
This  was  presided  over  by  Gov.  Henry  J.  Gardiner, 
whose  matter  and  manner  in  introducing  me  to  the 
large  audience  clearly  showed  the  interest  he  felt  at 
that  time  in  the  subject  of  Prohibition. 

The  legislature  assembled  in  January,  1855.  From 
force  of  circumstances,  it  naturally  brought  to  the 
political  surface  many  men  who  had  had  but  little 
to  do  with  politics.  One  of  these,  who  was  entirely 
unknown  in  legislative  circles,  was  chosen  speaker  of 
the  house.  To  Sidney  Perham,  elected  as  a  Morrill- 
Democrat    from  Oxford  county,   was  accorded    this 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  517 

unusual  honor.  A  circumstance  wliicli  contributed 
much  to  this  result  was  the  fact  that  he  was  at  the 
time  the  presiding  officer  of  the  grand  division  of  the 
Sons  of  Temperance  in  the  state. 

Long  interested  in  temperance,  Mr.  Perham  had 
given  much  time  to  speaking  upon  the  subject. 
Though  a  Democrat,  he  had  supported  Mr.  Morrill 
in  the  election  of  1853  upon  the  Maine-Law  issue. 
A  few  years  later,  after  the  repeal  of  the  Maine  Law, 
and  preparatory  to  the  movement  for  its  re-enactment, 
he  traveled  over  the  state  extensively,  speaking,  no 
man  more  effectively,  in  favor  of  Prohibition.  He 
subsequently  served  in  Congress  three  terms  and  as 
governor  of  the  state  three  years.  He  was  also  for 
some  years  the  United  States  appraiser  at  the  port  of 
Portland.  He  is  one  of  the  few  active  participants  in 
the  political  revolution  which  marked  this  year  who 
still  survive.  In  private  life  without  reproach,  and  in 
public  discharging  the  duties  of  every  position  to 
which  he  was  called  with  ability  and  integrity, 
Sidney  Perham  has  justly  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  the  people  of  Maine. 

The  vacancies  in  the  senate  were  filled,  and  with 
the  result  that,  of  its  thirty-one  members,  all  were 
Maine-Law  men.  The  house  sent  up  to  that  body, 
the  names  of  Morrill  and  Reed  as  the  constitutional 
candidates  for  governor,  and  ten  minutes  later  Anson 
P.  Morrill  was  unanimously  elected  by  the  senate. 

In  his  inaugural  address.  Governor  Morrill,  refer- 
ring to  the  Maine  Law,  said: 

"  It  has  been  fully  discussed  by  the  people  and  become  a 
question  of  prominence  and  deep  interest  in  our  elections. 
The  result  shows  conclusively  that  the  people  are  by  a  very 
large  majority  in  favor  of  sustaining  that  law,  a  happy  verdict 

34 


518  REMINISCENCES 

for  the  cause  of  humanity  throughout  the  land.  Had  Maine 
declared  against  the  law,  her  "decision  would  have  been  felt 
most  disastrously  by  other  communities  where  strong  efforts 

are    being  made  to   obtain   similar    legislation The 

people  demand  that  the  grog-shops  l)e  closed,  whether  found 
in  spacious  saloons  and  popular  hotels,  wdiere  temptation  is 
presented  in  the  most  alluring  form,  or  in  filthy  cellar  or  joint 
wdiere  poor  degraded  humanity  is  made  loathsome  to  the  last 
degree." 

Referring  to  Governor  Morrill,  the  leading  daily 
of  the  state  said: 

"  The  movement  which  has  resulted  in  his  election  has  been 
emphatically  a  movement  of  the  people  by  a  deep  and  abiding 
conviction  and  feeling  upon  the  great  questions  of  liberty  and 
temperance,  not  only  without  the  aid  of,  but  in  open  defiance 
of  old  party  organization The  inauguration  of  Gov- 
ernor Morrill  may  be  regarded  also  as  the  inauguration  of  a 
new  political  party  in  this  state,  based  upon  the  prominent 
issues  which  entered  into  the  canvass  which  resulted  in  his 
election  and  which  were  discussed  in  his  message." 

In  January,  I  appeared  before  the  legislative  com- 
mittee in  support  of  more  stringent  provisions  for  the 
prohibitory  law,  which  were  subsequently  enacted. 
This  afterwards  came  to  be  known  as  the  ' '  Intensified 
Maine  Law." 

Before  the  adjournment  of  the  legislature,  the 
coalition  members  of  both  branches  united  in  a  call 
inviting  the  people  of  the  state,  without  distinction  of 
former  political  party,  in  favor  of  a  prohil)itory  law 
and  opposed  to  the  further  extension  of  slavery  and 
the  encroachment  of  the  slave  power,  to  assemble  in  a 
convention  to  transact  the  necessary  business  and 
organize  the  Republican  party.  Commenting  upon 
this  call,  the  leading  Republican  organ  of  the  state 
said: 

"  The  principle  of  Prohibition,  as  opposed  to  the  old  sys- 
tem of   license,  has    now    become    fundamental  with  a  <rreat 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  519 

majority  of  the  temperance  community,  and  is  so  recognized 
in  the  call." 

The  convention  was  held  on  the  22d  of  February, 
1855,  and  nominated  Anson  P.  Morrill  unanimously 
as  its  candidate  for  governor.  Among  others  it 
adopted  the  following  resolution : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  existence  and  execution  of  the  Maine 
Temperance  Law  is  a  vital  element  in  the  organization  and 
life  of  the  Republican  party  in  this  state,  and  is  one  of  the 
chief  safeguards  of  the  lives,  reputation,  property  and  homes 
of  our  people." 

The  resolution  endorsing  the  nomination  of  Gover- 
nor Morrill,  referred  to  him  as  ' '  an  ardent  friend  and 
supporter  of  the  temperance  reform." 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  whatever  other 
purposes  were  contemplated  in  the  organization  of  the 
Kepublican  party  of  Maine,  and  whatever  other 
agencies  served  to  make  way  for  its  accession  to  power 
in  the  state,  it  may  be  claimed,  without  ignoring  any 
of  those,  that  the  Maine-Law  movement  was  a  most 
important  and  potential  influence  to  that  end. 

Anson  P.  Morrill  had  all  the  requisites  for  leader- 
ship in  a  political  movement  of  the  kind.  He  was  a 
man  of  ability  and  integrity,  of  courage,  of  political 
skill  and  experience.  What  he  believed  to  be  right 
he  upheld,  and  no  considera,tion  of  personal  advan- 
tage or  mere  temporary  party  expediency  could  swerve 
him  a  hair's  breadth  from  the  course  marked  out  for 
him  by  his  convictions  of  duty.  Though  he  was 
defeated  for  re-election  the  next  year,  I  doubt  if  the 
combined  political  wisdom  of  his  supporters  could 
have  selected  a  man  who  could  have  run  as  well  as  he 
did  in  the  combination  of  untoward  circumstances 
with  which  he  was  called  upon  to  contend  in  1855. 


520  KEMINISCENCES 

Defeateii  for  governor  that  yoav.  ho  was  in  1S(>0 
elected  to  Congress  and  served  one  term,  when,  deelin- 
ing  re-election,  he  made  way  for  James  (i.  Hlaine. 

Dnring  liis  service  as  congressman,  Mr.  Morrill  liad 
an  experience  in  a  matter  of  patronage  which  nuist 
have  been  unnsnal.  if  not  altogether  nnique.  I  relate 
it  as  nearly  as  possible  as  he  told  it  to  me  years  ago. 
As  a  representative  to  Congress  he  had  made  a 
recommendation  for  the  appointment  of  a  postmaster 
in  one  of  the  more  important  towns  in  his  district. 
Under  the  system  adopted  by  President  Lincoln  for 
the  distribution  of  patronage,  that  reconnnendation 
should  have  been  followed  by  an  innnediate  appoint- 
ment. This,  however,  was  delayed  and,  obtaining  no 
satisfactory  assurance  from  the  post-office  department, 
Mr.  Morrill  called  on  President  Lincoln  and  obt*fiined 
an  explicit  promise  that  his  friend  should  be  ap- 
pointed the  next  day. 

'•The  next  morning  at  about  five  o'clock,"  said  Mv. 
Morrill.  ''I  was  awakened  by  some  one  ra[>pi ng  at  the 
door  of  my  sleeping  apartment.  Supposing  that  an 
important  telegram  had  been  received,  I  rose  hastily. 
Upon  opening  the  door,  a  card  was  put  in  my  hands 
by  the  bell-boy.  Glancing  at  it,  I  read,  'A.  Lincoln.' 
Even  that  familiar  name  did  not  suggest  to  my  half- 
awakened  faculties  that  I  had  received  a  call  from  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  a  visit  not  to  be 
expected  under  any  circumstances,  much  less,  as  it 
seemed  to  me,  at  that  untimely  hour.  As  I  was 
exclaiming,  '  Who  is  A.  Lincoln,  that  he  should  wake 
me  up  at  this  unearthly  hour  T  the  tall  form  of  the 
great  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  stepped  into  my  chamber.  I  stood  aghast. 
I  hardly  know  what  I  said. 


OF   XEAL    DOW.  521 

'■Mr.  MorrilL,'  said  he,  I  ;/ave  you  a  proTni-fe 
yeHterday,  exi^ctinj^  to  fulfill  it  UhIsly.  You  have  a 
rifrht  t^j  exact  its  jjerforrriarjce:  but  I  have  calle^l  to 
a«k  you  to  relieve  me  from  my  lAedga,  and  to  explain 
to  you  why  it  in  necefj-^ary  for  me  to  prefer  such  a 
request. ' 

"  '  But,  Mr.  President,  why  did  you  not  send  for  me 
to  call  on  your 

"  'I  have  called  on  you  iiLstead  of  askinj^  you  to  call 
on  me.  because  I  am  asking  a  favor;  and  I  have  called 
at  this  early  hour  for  reasons  which  I  am  sure  you 
will  appreciate,  for  the  President  is  not  ordinarily  at 
liberty  to  make  such  a  call  as  this  and  cannot  well  do 
it  publicly.' 

"Mr.  Lincoln  then  went  on,"  said  Mr.  MorrilL  "to 
explain  the  circumstances  impelling  him  to  seek  the 
relea.se  from  his  promise,  which  of  course  I  was 
bound,  and  glad,  in  view  of  his  great  anxiety,  to 
give." 

Mr.  Morrill  told  me  what  those  circumstances  were, 
but  the  interest  pertaining  to  such  a  call  at  such  an 
hour  for  such  a  purp^jse  from  the  President  of  the 
United  States  will  lose  nothing  by  withholding 
them,  and  there  are  those  yet  living  who  might 
feel  hurt  by  their  relation. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


NOMINATION      AND      SECOND      ELECTION      AS     MAYOR. 
THE     JUNE     RIOT. 


In  the  spring  of  1855,  I  was  nominated  as  the  candi- 
date of  the  Republicans  of  Portland  for  mayor,  and 
my  election  followed.  The  events  leading  up  to  that 
nomination  are  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  Maine- 
Law  movement,  and  may  properly  find  place  in  this 
narrative. 

The  new  Republican  party  in  Maine  had  declared 
support  of  the  Maine  Law  to  be  one  of  its  cardinal 
principles.  I  had  contributed  something  to  that 
change  of  sentiment  whereby  the  Republican  organi- 
zation had  been  led  to  success  through  the  shattered 
lines  of  the  party  which  had  so  long  controlled  the 
state,  and  by  far  the  major  part  of  the  Republican 
vote  in  Portland  must  come  from  the  men  who  had 
supported  me  for  mayor  in  the  spring  of  1854, 
while  the  overwhelming  proportion  of  tliose  who 
had  opposed  me  then  would  thereafter  be  found  in 
opposition  to  the  new  party. 

Before  my  nomination  this  year,  efforts  were  in 
progress  to  unite  the  ' '  liberal "  Whigs  and  the  ' '  Lib- 
eral   Democracy"  with    the    regular    Democrats,    in 


REMINISCENCES   OF  NEAL  DOW.  523 

opposition  to  the  Republican  party.  The  Democratic 
leaders  had  not  yet  abandoned  hope  of  getting  their 
political  craft  off  the  rocks  upon  which  it  had  been 
run  by  the  "liberal"  mutineers  that  they  might 
defeat  Governor  Hubbard.  But  Portland  was  not 
the  place  where,  nor  was  that  spring  the  time  when, 
they  thought  it  proper  to  attempt  to  float  their  ship 
under  its  own  name  and  old  colors.  The  leaders  of 
this  combination  now  took  the  initiative  in  the  local 
politics  of  Portland,  and  organized  a  formidable 
demonstration  to  bring  out  a  citizens'  candidate  for 
mayor,  and  our  people  were  confronted  one  morning 
with  the  following  call,  numerously  signed,  which 
appeared  simultaneously  in  the  Democratic  and  the 
Liberal  morning  papers: 

"  Citizens'  Meeting  !  The  citizens  of  Portland,  without 
distinction  of  party,  in  favor  of  a  wise,  upright,  and  intelli- 
gent administration  of  its  municipal  affairs,  and  who  are 
opposed  to  a  return  to  that  system  of  measures  w'hich,  three 
years  since,  inflicted  so  many  evils  upon  the  city,  and  which 
met  so  signal  a  rebuke  at  the  hands  of  its  citizens  in  the  elec- 
tion of  1852,  are  invited  to  meet  at  the  City  Hall  in  Portland, 
on  this,  Saturday  evening,  March  24,  at  7.30  o'clock,  p.m. 
to  take  into  consideration  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for 
the  ofiice  of  mayor  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  to  take  such 
further  action  in  relation  to  the  city  election  as  the  best 
interests  of  the  city  may  seem  to  require." 

Among  the  five  hundred  signers  were  many  most 
respectable  citizens,  but  the  list  had  been  lengthened 
by  the  names  of  a  number  who,  before  the  Maine 
Law,  had  been  interested  in  the  liquor-traffic.  The 
reference  to  my  administration  was  intended  to  be 
clear,  but  was  inapplicable  in  that  no  evil  had  been 
entailed  upon  the  city  by  my  mayoralty  service  unless 
the  practically  total  extinction  of  a  prolific  source  of 


524  KEMINISCENCES 

infinite  injury  to  its  moral  and  material  interests  was 
to  be  so  considered. 

That  call  was  more  than  a  pointed  personal  reflec- 
tion. For  such,  neither  I  nor  my  friends  cared.  I 
had  long  been  hardened  to  the  most  severe  criticisms. 
The  call  distinctly  intimated  that  enforced  Prohi- 
bition was  inimical  to  the  business  interests  of  a 
growing  town.  Convinced  as  we  were  that  there  was 
no  foundation  in  fact  or  fancy  for  such  an  insinua- 
tion, the  friends  of  that  policy  were  not  disposed  to 
let  it  go  unchallenged. 

The  Citizens'  meeting  was  held,  and  put  in  nomina- 
tion James  T,  McCobb,  a  gentleman  of  character  and 
ability,  a  lifelong  Democrat,  who  had  been  two  years 
a  state  senator,  and  one  whose  sympathies  with 
Prohibition  had  been  frequently  declared.  In  the 
meeting  it  was  announced  from  the  platform  that  I 
was  to  be  the  opposing  candidate,  with  the  absurd 
addition  that,  if  elected,  I  did  not  intend  to  serve,  but 
was  to  abandon  the  office,  go  abroad,  and  leave  its 
duties  to  Mayor  Cahoon,  who  was  to  be  made  an 
alderman  and  president  of  the  board,  for  the  purpose. 
There  was  some  extravagant  threatening  talk,  which 
at  the  time  was  attributed  to  the  excitement  attend- 
ing partisan  zeal. 

A  few  days  later,  the  following  call  was  published: 

"  The  undersiirned  citizens  of  Portland  and  memliers  of  the 
Repubhcan  party  would  respectfully  invite  their  fellow- 
citizens  who  are  in  favor  of  the  principles  and  platform  laid 
down  by  said  party  at  the  state  convention  held  in  Augusta, 
February  22d,  to  meet  at  the  City  Hall,  this  Thursday 
evening,  March  21lth,  at  seven  and  a  half  o'clock,  for  the  })ur- 
pose  of  nominating  a  candidate  for  mayor  for  the  ensuing 
municipal  year,  and  to  transact  such  other  business  as  may 
come  before  the  mcotinir." 


OF    NEAL   DOW.  525 

This  call  bore  the  signatures  of  about  eight  hun- 
dred citizens,  the  first  two  being  those  of  the  mayor  of 
the  city,  and  of  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  United 
States  senator.  While  exceeding  the  ' '  Citizens'  Call" 
in  the  number,  and  not  suffering  by  a  comparison 
with  that  in  the  standing,  influence,  and  character  of 
its  signers,  this  list  did  not  include  the  name  of  any 
Ijerson  interested  in  the  liquor-traffic. 

The  caucus  was  held  according  to  call.  The  old 
City  Hall  was  packed  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Mayor 
Cahoon,  who  had  been  elected  over  me  the  year 
before,  was  called  upon  to  preside.  Upon  taking  the 
chair,  he  said,  as  reported  in  the  next  morning's 
papers : 

"  Sometimes  the  public  mind  is  so  centered  on  a  candidate 
as  often  to  anticipate  a  formal  nomination.  It  may  be  the 
case  in  this  instance.  How  shall  the  candidate  be  nominated, 
by  ballot  or  by  acclamation  ?  " 

The  same  paper  says : 

"The  response  was  loudly  and  unmistakably,  '  By  accla- 
mation,' and,  on  motion,  Hon.  Neal  Dow  was  nominated  by 
acclamation,  twice  three  thundering  cheers  doing  the  work  in 
the  most  satisfactory  manner." 

I  did  not  look  upon  the  nomination  thus  made  as  in 
any  sense  a  personal  compliment  to  myself.  The 
cheers  for  my  name  were  not  for  me,  but  for  the 
cause,  which,  from  force  of  circumstances,  my  name 
represented.  The  nomination  was  accorded,  to  be 
sure,  by  a  party  having  other  purposes  and  policies 
than  the  maintenance  of  Prohibition,  and  to  which 
I  was  fully  committed  and  which  I  had  materially 
aided.  Nevertheless,  it  was  understood  in  the  caucus 
nominating  me,  as  clearly  as  in  that  which  had  de- 
nounced my  former  administration,  that,  in  selecting 


526  REMINISCENCES 

me  as  its  candidate,  the  portion  of  the  community 
represented  in  the  caucus  cheering  my  name,  repudi- 
ated the  suggestion  in  the  call  for  the  Citizens' 
meeting,  that  the  city  had  suffered  by  my  vigorous  en- 
forcement of  Prohibition,  four  years  before. 

That  there  may  be  no  mistake  as  to  what  was 
understood  and  intended  by  that  gathering  in  my 
nomination,  I  add  that  among  other  speakers  who 
addressed  it  was  Noah  Smith,  Jr. ,  of  Calais.  He  was 
known  far  and  wide  in  Maine  as  a  friend  of  the  law 
with  which  his  name  was  identified,  as  we  have  seen. 
Happening  to  be  in  the  hall,  Mr.  Smith  was  called 
upon  to  speak.  The  next  morning's  paper,  referring 
to  the  incident,  said: 

"  Mr.  Smith  responded  in  a  very  sensible  and  effective 
style,  remarking  that  the  contest  in  view  was  not  merely  a 
municipal  matter,  but  there  were  involved  in  the  result  great 
and  im})ortant  influences  upon  the  state  and  nation.  If  Neal 
Dow  were  defeated,  it  would  be  said  that  temperance  and  the 
Maine  Law  were  defeated  ;  that  the  great  statute  was  killed 
with  its  author  in  its  own  home.  This  would  be  a  bad  report 
to  go  to  the  senate  of  New  Jersey  at  this  crisis." 

The  reference  to  New  Jersey  was  in  connection  with 
the  fact  that  a  prohibitory  law  was  then  pending 
before  the  legislature  of  that  state. 

My  good  friend.  Judge  Carter,  was  also  one  of  the 
speakers.  His  paper  the  next  morning  reported  his 
remarks  as  follows: 

' '  Mr.  Carter  said  that  he  had  both  supported  and  opposed 
Mr.  Dow,  and  in  both  cases  without  reference  to  any  personal 
feeling  toward  him.  After  he  had  been  defeated  in  1852,  as 
he  believed  by  fraud,  he  did  not  think  it  wise  to  again  bring 
him  forward  the  next  year.  He  did  not  think  the  time  had 
arrived  last  year,  but  now  he  l)elieved  the  time  had  arrived, 
and  nothing  could  indicate  this  more  clearly  than  the  move- 
ment of  his  opponents  within  a  week  or  two  past.     They  had 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  527 

seen  the  indications  that  the  time  had  arrived ;  they  had  seen 
the  handwriting  on  the  wall  even  before  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Dow  had  moved.  He  confidently  predicted  the  election  of 
Mr.  Dow." 

Both  the  Citizens  and  the  Republicans  put  full 
municipal  tickets  in  the  field,  and  a  most  exciting 
contest  followed.  A  gentleman  who  had  been  elected 
as  alderman  the  year  before  on  the  "anti-Dow" 
ticket,  and  who  had  been  elected  president  of  that 
board,  had  subsequently  removed  from  the  city  and 
state,  and  established  his  business  and  residence  in 
Boston.  His  absence  left  the  board,  which  was  to 
decide  upon  the  qualification  of  voters,  a  tie  between 
the  "Dow"  men  and  "antis."  He  consented  to 
return  to  the  city  temporarily,  and,  resuming  the 
chair,  decided  by  his  own  vote  in  his  own  favor, 
the  question  of  his  right  to  act  as  a  member  of  the 
board.  Thereupon  he  aided,  or  it  was  so  publicly 
charged,  in  placing  upon  our  lists  the  names  of 
hundreds  of  illegal  voters.  In  fact,  an  attempt  to 
add  between  three  and  four  hundred  names  at  once 
without  any  investigation  was  only  defeated  by  the 
positive  refusal  of  the  minority  to  permit  so  gross  a 
violation  of  law  and  usage. 

The  quarrel  in  the  board  of  aldermen  tended  to 
increase  the  excitement  attending  the  campaign.  As 
had  been  the  case  in  other  elections  in  which  I  had 
been  a  candidate,  the  vote  was  larger  than  ha^  been 
polled  in  the  city  before.  In  a  total  of  3, 742  votes  my 
majority  was  forty-six.  The  morning  after  the  elec- 
tion, the  Republican  organ,  in  announcing  the  result, 
said: 

"  After  a  hard-fought  battle,  one  of  the  hardest  in  which 
we  ever  took  part,  the  Republicans  of   Portland  achieved  a 


528  EEMINISCENCES 

glorious    and    substantial    victory  over   the    combined    forces 
arrayed    against   them.       The   rum-power   did  its    mightiest. 

Personal  hatred  against  Mr.  Dow  was  appealed  to, 

and    fonned    to   the    utmost,    and    finally    an    alderman    was 
imported  from  Boston  to  place  upon  our  voting  lists  hundreds 

of    illegal    foreign    votes And    yet  the    Republican 

party  achieved   what,  under   all   the    circumstances,  may  be 
regarded  as  a  most  brilliant  victory." 

In  my  inaugural  address,  after  dealing  with  the 
ordinary  city  affairs,  referring  to  the  prohibitory  law, 
I  said: 

"  I  consider  the  object  of  that  law,  viz  :  the  annihilation  of 
the  rum-traffic,  as  one  of  very  great  importance  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  city  in  all  its  various  interests,  and  to  the 
welfare  and  happiness  of  all  her  people.  I  shall  not  fail, 
therefore,  to  employ  all  the  power  which  the  law  has  put  into 
my  hands,  and  which  you  may  entrust  to  me,  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  purpose  contemplated  by  the  legislature. 

"  I  was  induced  to  permit  my  name  to  be  used  in  the  recent 
municipal  canvass  in  connection  with  the  office  to  which  my 
fellow-citizens  have  done  me  the  honor  to  elect  me,  by  circum- 
stances over  which  I  had  no  control,  and  of  which  I  do  not 
foresee  the  recurrence.  And  if  in  retiring  from  the  responsible 
position  which  I  now  occupy,  at  the  end  of  my  term  of  office, 
I  shall  be  able  to  say  that  the  city  is  no  longer  cursed  with 
the  traffic  in  strong  drinks,  and  that  prosperity  and  happiness 
reign  in  all  her  borders,  I  shall  consider  it  the  happiest 
moment   of   my    life." 

Here,  it  is  proper  to  say  that  it  is  probable  that  at 
no  time  in  the  history  of  the  temperance  movement  in 
Maine,  or  of  my  connection  with  it,  had  the  liquor- 
interest  honored  me  with  so  intense  a  dislike  as  at  the 
time  of  my  re-election  to  the  mayoralty.  I  must  not 
be  understood  as  intending  to  intimate  that  opposi- 
tion to  me  was  confined  to  that  interest.  It  was  far 
otherwise.  For  a  great  variety  of  reasons,  many 
of  my  fellow-citizens  who  had  no  connection,  near 
or    remote,   with    the    liciuor- traffic,   had    deemed    it 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  529 

proper  to  interest  themselves  actively  against  my 
re-election.  As  for  most  of  these  there  is  no  reason 
to  suppose  they  were  animated  by  any  considerations 
that  might  not  properly  weigh  with  good  citizens;  as 
to  the  ex-distillers  and  the  ex-licjuor-dealers,  whose 
unholy  trade  had  been  ruined,  as  they  insisted,  by  my 
persistent  "fanaticism,"  the  intensity  of  their  dislike 
for  me  is  inadequately  described  in  saying  that  they 
hated  me.  It  was  not  unnatural  that  such  should  be 
the  case.  A  great  party  had  taken  the  position  I  had 
so  long  advocated,  and  was  pledged  to  uproot  the  evil 
trade,  and  those  who  had  been  engaged  in  it,  or  who 
yet  clung  to  the  outlawed  traffic,  knew  that  so  long  as 
my  influence  was  potential  in  that  party  there  would 
be  no  shadow  of  turning  from  the  publicly  avowed 
determination  to  free  the  state  from  the  rumshops. 

This  hostility  to  me  manifested  itself  in  a  variety 
of  ways,  extending  from  mere  petty  and  insulting- 
personal  annoyances  to  overt  acts  clearly  violative 
of  law,  which  culminated  in  what  has  since  been 
known  as  the  June  riot,  for  some  time  foreshad- 
owed in  threats,  some  vague,  and  others  more 
specific.  Though  having  no  direct  connection  with 
the  enforcement  of  Prohibition,  this  was  made 
through  misrepresentation  and  consequent  misun- 
derstanding, the  pretense  with  the  aid*  of  which  a 
covert  attack  was  made  upon  that  policy,  so  far 
successful  as  to  result  in  the  repeal  of  the  Maine 
Law,  and  the  return,  for  a  brief  period,  to  the  sys- 
tem of  license.  Aside  from  its  direct  effect  in  that 
particular,  the  riot  demands  notice  here  as  fitly 
illustrating  the  straits  to  which  the  liquor-interest 
had  been  driven  within  four  years  after  the  enact- 
ment of  the  original  Maine  Law. 


530  REMINISCENCES 

Portland,  so  far  as  the  major  part  of  its  population 
was  concerned,  was  a  law-abiding,  order-loving  com- 
munity; but  its  harbor  was  the  convenient  and  safe 
resort  for  many  vessels,  there  often  being  two  or  three 
hundred  in  port  for  several  days  at  a  time,  and  from 
the  crews  of  these  vessels  recruits  were  easily  obtained 
to  aid  our  local  roughs  in  any  projected  disturbance. 

The  June  riot,  though  the  last  mob,  was  by  no 
means  the  first  one  which  had  threatened  law  and 
order  in  Portland.  Upon  this  point  I  quote  from 
one  of  the  city  papers  an  article  which  appeared 
nearly  six  years  before  my  last  term  as  mayor.  In 
October,  1849,  there  was  a  riot  in  Portland  which 
was  quelled  without  much  difficulty.  The  next 
day,   the  paper  referred  to  said: 

"  Portland  is  becoming,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  notorious  for 
its  mob  spirit.  The  tone  of  the  press  abroad  shows  that  in 
this  respect,  we  are  acquiring  a  most  unenviable  reputation. 
Unless  something  is  done  to  stop  this  rioting,  neither  life  nor 
propert}^  will  be  deemed  safe  from  one  night  to  the  other. 
We  speak  plainly.  We  tell  the  authorities  that  they  have 
the  power  to  crush  forever  this  growing  and  dangerous 
mobocracy,  and  the  people  will  expect  them  to  do  it." 

Premising  that,  of  the  several  mobs  which  had 
disgraced  the  city,  no  one  of  them  approximated  it  in 
magnitude  and  desperation,  I  proceed  to  relate  the 
story  of  the  June  riot.  First,  let  us  see  what  was  the 
immediate  pretext  for  it. 

The  prohibitory  laAV  made  provision  through  munic- 
ipal agents  for  the  sale  of  liquors  for  medicinal  and 
mechanical  purposes.  The  agency  system  was  at  the 
time  regarded  as  a  sort  of  safety-valve  to  the  policy  of 
Prohibition,  as  in  providing  for  the  legitimate  supply 
of  legitimate  demands  for  liquor  it  prevented  the 
arraying  against  the  law  of  an  element  that  might 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  531 

otherwise  be  hostile  to  it.  For  this  reason  it  was 
especially  obnoxious  to  the  liquor-interest. 

The  board  of  mayor  and  aldermen  authorized  the 
use  of  a  shop  owned  by  the  city  in  the  basement  of 
the  City  Hall,  and  appointed  a  committee,  of  which 
the  mayor  was  chairman,  to  arrange  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  city  agency  for  the  sale  of  spirituous 
liquors,  wine,  etc.,  for  medicinal  and  mechanical 
purposes,  under  the  provisions  of  the  law.  In  i)ur- 
suance  of  this  order  the  committee  contracted  with 
the  selling  agent  of  a  New  York  liquor  house,  in 
the  name  and  on  account  of  the  city  and  for  the 
city  agency,  for  a  quantity  of  liquors,  which  arrived 
in  Portland,  marked  ' '  Portland  Agency,  Portland, 
Maine,"  accompanied  by  bills  of  lading  similarly 
made  out.  The  liquors  were  billed  to  the  ' '  Portland 
Agency,  Portland,  Maine,"  and  on  their  arrival  were 
immediately  carried  to  the  agency,  and  there  left  in 
charge  of  the  city  agent  previously  elected.  Up  to 
that  time  the  authorities  had  not  received  an  intima- 
tion that  any  trouble  was  to  follow.  Subsequently  it 
was  learned  that  arrangements  for  a  disturl^ance  were 
commenced  immediately  after  the  first  order  establish- 
ing the  agency,  nearly  a  month  prior  to  this  date. 

On  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  June,  our  citizens  were 
confronted  with  the  following,  which  was  circulated 
broadcast  through  the  city: 

"Attention,  City  Marshal! 
While  the  city  authorities  are  busy  searching  private 
houses  for  demijohns  and  jugs  of  liquor,  it  is,  perhaps,  not 
strange  that  they  should  overlook  wholesale  importations  into 
the  city  of  what  are  probably  impure  liquors  intended  for 
sale.  We  are  credibly  informed  that  $1,600  worth  of  li(iuors 
have  recently  been  purchased  by  a  citizen  of  Portland,  and 
brought   into  the  city  in  violation  of  law,  and  are  still  kept 


532  REMINISCENCES 

here  illegally.  Why  doesn't  the  marshal  seize  and  destroy? 
The  mayor  of  the  city  has  no  more  right  to  deal  in  liquors 
without  authority  than  any  other  citizen.  Where  are  our 
vigilant  police,  who  are  knowing  to  the  above  facts,  and  who 
thmk  it  their  duty  to  move  about  in  search  of  the  poor  man's 
cider,  and  often  push  their  search  into  private  houses,  con- 
trary to  every  principle  of  just  law?  Why  are  they  so 
negligent  of  the  weightier  matters  and  so  eager  for  the  mint 
and  cumin?  We  call  upon  them  by  virtue  of  Neal  Dow's  law 
to  seize  Neal  Dow's  liquors  and  pour  them  into  the  street. 
The  old  maxim  reads :  '  Flat  jm^tilia  ruat  coehim,'  which 
means,  '  Let  the  lash  which  Neal  Dow  has  prepared  for 
other  backs  be  applied  to  his  own  when  he  deserves  it.'" 

Naturally,  all  in  the  city  opposed  to  Proliibition 
or  to  Neal  Dow  were  aroused  by  that  publication. 
The  excitement  was  increased  by  the  talk  such  utter- 
ances were  calculated  to  incite.  In  the  afternoon, 
three  citizens,  one  of  whom  was  an  ex-distiller,  whose 
business  had  been  suppressed  by  the  Maine  Law  —  or 
by  Neal  Dow,  as  was  the  custom  then  to  say  —  and 
the  other  two,  violent  personal  and  political  enemies 
of  the  mayor,  made  complaint  under  oath  that  they 
had  reason  to  believe  and  did  believe  that  intoxi- 
cating liquors  were  kept  by  Neal  Dow  in  the  middle 
cellar  under  the  building  commonly  known  as  the 
City  Hall,  and  that  said  liquors  were  intended  for 
sale  in  the  city  in  violation  of  law.  These  complain- 
ants were  accompanied  to  the  court-room  by  a  large 
number  of  persons  known  to  be  violently  opposed  to 
the  Maine  Law,  and  to  the  mayor,  and  though  all  the 
circumstances  were  such  as  to  compel  the  judge  to 
believe  that  the  complainants  were  swearing  falsely, 
and  that  the  complaint  was  made  in  pursuance  of  a 
plan  to  incite  trouble,  he  had  no  option  but  to  issue 
the  warrant.  Thereupon  the  complainants  insisted 
that  the  judge  should  ignore  the  officer  whose  special 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  533 

duty  it  was  to  serve  such  warrants,  and  commit  it  to 
the  hands  of  a  constable  whom  they  had  brought 
with  them  to  the  court-room.  This,  however,  the 
judge  refused  to  do. 

In  the  course  of  an  hour  and  a  half  after  receiving 
the  warrant  the  officer  went  to  the  place  described,  to 
wit:  the  city  agency.  There  to  his  surprise  he  found 
three  truckmen  who  told  him  they  had  come  to  haul 
the  liquors  away.  Quite  a  number  of  people  also 
were  collected  there,  who  manifested  an  unusual 
interest  in  the  proceedings.  Entering  the  premises, 
the  officer  found  the  liquors  marked  as  already 
described,  and  also  some  other  seized  liquors,  that 
being  the  usual  place  for  depositing  such.  Being  in 
doubt  whether  he  should  seize  them,  he  called  for 
the  invoice.  This  was  produced  by  the  city  agent, 
and  was  found  to  correspond  Avith  the  marks  upon 
the  packages.  He  then  left  the  building  to  consult 
the  city  marshal  and  county  attorney.  His  departure 
was  the  occasion  for  loud  complaints  from  the  crowd 
that  no  seizure  had  been  made,  accompanied  with 
threats  that  they  would  take  care  of  it  in  the  evening. 
-This  violent  talk  was  renewed  when  the  officer 
returned  shortly  with  the  city  marshal  to  seize  the 
liquors.  Having  seized  them,  he  took  an  account  of 
them  and  left  them  where  they  were,  in  the  building 
owned  by  the  city. 

The  warrant  had  now  been  duly  executed.  The 
processes  of  the  Maine  Law  had  been  applied  quietly 
and  in  due  form  by  the  proper  officials,  without 
trouble  or  disturbance  of  any  kind.  The  threats  and 
bluster  that  had  been  made  by  the  crowd,  sent  there 
to  make  trouble,  were  caused  by  the  refusal  of  the 
officers  to  do  more  than  duty  required  of  them,  which 

35 


534  REMINISCENCES 

refusal  interfered  with  the  designs  of  the  f omenters  of 
the  subsequent  riot.  Nothing  now  remained  for  the 
officer  but  to  make  his  return  as  provided  by  law,  that 
all  questions  involved  might  be  passed  upon  by  the 
court,  as  was  subsequently  in  due  time  done.  That, 
however,  was  not  what  the  complainants  who  had 
sworn  out  the  warrant,  and  those  for  whom  they  were 
acting,  desired.  Their  purpose  may  be  fairly  inferred 
from  what  followed. 

A  crowd,  for  the  main  part  orderly,  gathered 
around  the  agency  in  the  afternooii,  in  the  evident 
expectation  that  the  liquors  to  be  seized  would  be 
removed  from  the  building  by  the  constable  selected 
by  the  complainants  to  make  the  seizure.  What  that 
crowd  would  have  done  in  that  event  is  conjectural. 
What  was  done  under  changed  conditions,  may  be 
briefly  described. 

The  comparatively  orderly  gathering  of  the  after- 
noon was  by  evening  largely  increased  in  number, 
and  became  a  desperate  mob  intent  upon  unlawful 
and  riotous  action.  It  threatened  property  and  life. 
The  small,  undisciplined,  ununiformed  police  force  at 
the  disposal  of  the  authorities  proved  utterly  inade- 
quate to  cope  Avith  it.  Warnings  were  answered  with 
insults;  attempts  to  disperse  the  crowd  aroused  only 
excitement  and  threats;  the  ringleaders  arrested  were 
rescued  by  their  fellow-rioters,  and  finally  the  mar- 
shal reported  to  the  mayor  his  inability  to  maintain 
the  peace  with  the  force  under  his  command. 

The  municipal  authorities  in  the  emergency  acted 
without  haste  or  excitement,  under  the  competent 
legal  advice  of  the  city  solicitor.  Gen.  Samuel  Fessen- 
den.  After  the  civil  force  had  proved  unequal  to 
disperse  the  mob  and  the  i)olice  were  in  imminent 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  535 

danger,  two  military  companies  were  called  upon  to 
act  as  an  armed  police  force.  There  was  delay  in  the 
response,  for  want  of  proper  arms  and  ammunition, 
the  captain  of  one  of  the  companies  refusing  to  expose 
his  men  to  the  mob  unless  they  were  properly  armed 
and  equipped.     This  only  encouraged  the  rioters. 

Meanwhile  the  police  force,  by  the  use  of  revolvers, 
was  maintaining  its  position  inside  the  building  into 
which  the  mob  was  endeavoring  to  force  its  way. 
Finally,  after  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  as  well  as  the 
mayor,  had  read  the  riot  act,  and  the  mayor  had 
warned  the  rioters  to  disperse,  and  one  military  com- 
pany, which  had  accompanied  the  mayor  and  two  of 
the  aldermen  into  the  presence  of  the  mob,  had  been 
reduced  by  wounds  from  stones  and  other  missiles, 
and  the  retirement  of  those  who  left  the  ranks  to 
carry  off  their  wounded  comrades,  to  eight  men,  a 
second  military  company  arrived  upon  the  scene,  and 
after  a  few  volleys  of  four  shots  each  cowed  the  mob, 
which  was  afterwards  dispersed  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  One  rioter  was  killed  and  three  or  four 
wounded,  whether  by  the  police  or  the  military  it  was 
never  judicially  ascertained. 

What  would  have  followed  if  the  mob  had  got 
access  to  the  liquors  after  trampling  down  the  consti- 
tuted authorities  may  also  be  left  to  conjecture.  It  is 
enough  here  to  say  that  the  majesty  of  the  law  was 
sustained  —  not  the  Maine  Law,  be  it  remembered; 
the  enforcement  of  that  statute,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
not  involved  in  the  riot.  There  would  have  been  no 
disturbance  of  any  kind  had  the  complainants  and 
those  for  whom  they  acted  been  content  with  the 
orderly  enforcement  of  the  statute  under  which  they 
had  sworn  out  the  warrant. 


536  EEMINISCENCES 

AVliat  was  tlie  original  object  of  that  complaint? 
It  wa^*  not  understood  at  the  time  by  the  authorities, 
and  probably  few  ever  really  knew.  Personal,  politi- 
cal, and  other  considerations  led  those  active  in 
precipitating  the  trouble  to  conceal  as  much  as 
possible  their  part  in  the  transaction.  Months 
after  the  excitement  over  the  riot  had  subsided, 
and  it  had  accomplished  its  political  ends,  and 
after  those  whose  indiscretion  of  speech  and  act 
had  brought  on  the  crisis  were  ashamed  of  their 
part  in  it,  an  "opposition"  member  of  the  city 
government,  who  took  some  of  the  initiative  steps 
leading  to  the  riot,  gave  me  his  theory  of  what 
was  intended.  He  had  himself  furnished  some  of 
the  ' '  information  "  on  which  the  inflammatory  news- 
paper articles  alluded  to,  and  the  application  for  a 
warrant  were  based.  He  probably  was  well  informed 
as  to  what  it  was  hoped  to  accomplish. 

According  to  his  statement,  he  and  the  complain- 
ants believed  that  it  would  be  found  that  the  liquors 
had  been  billed  to  the  mayor  by  name;  that  it  would 
be  shown  on  the  trial  that  that  official  had  exceeded 
his  authority  in  purchasing  them,  and  that  he,  there- 
fore, was  the  actual  owner  of  the  liquors;  that 
the  city  could  not  become  the  technical  owner  except 
through  purchase  from  the  mayor,  who  was,  there- 
fore, holding  the  licpiors  "with  intent  to  sell  in 
violation  of  law."  This  shown,  Neal  Dow  would 
be  fined  and  imprisoned  in  the  common  jail,  and 
be  thus  "compelled  to  taste  some  of  his  own  medi- 
cine." 

Meanwhile  it  had  been  arranged  that  the  constable 
whom  they  had  expected  to  seize  the  liquors  was  to  be 
"overpowered"  by  a  "friendly,  good-natured  mob," 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  537 

which  would  take  the  liquors  from  him  and  destroy 
them.  Then,  they  expected,  the  mayor  would  be 
compelled  to  make  good  their  value  to  the  city,  which 
in  addition  to  the  hoped-for  fine  and  imprisonment 
would  let  "the  lash  which  Neal  Dow  has  prepared  for 
other  backs  be  applied  to  his  own. " 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  city  should  assume  the 
cost,  the  mayor  and  "his  law"  would  be  exposed  to 
condemnation  by  tax-payers,  because  the  loss  could  be 
said  to  have  been  incurred  through  the  mayor's  care- 
lessness in  the  purchase  of  the  liquors,  and  his 
remissness  in  permitting  a  mob  to  overpower  a  con- 
stable engaged  in  enforcing  his  own  law.  This 
latter  failure  could  also  be  made  to  appear  as  a 
matter  of  spite  on  the  mayor's  part  because  the 
constable  was  engaged  under  the  forms  of  the 
mayor's  own  law  in  putting  the  mayor  himself 
into  a  box. 

It  was  never  the  intent  of  the  prime  movers,  so  it 
was  said,  that  the  matter  should  go  as  far  as  it  did. 
Their  plans  were  ruined  when  the  judge  refused  to 
deliver  the  warrant  to  the  constable  who  was  to  stand 
in  with  them  in  the  game,  and  the  program  had  to  be 
changed.  As  a  result,  the  friendly  crowd  which  was 
to  take  the  liquors  from  the  constable  became  a 
desperate  mob,  getting  beyond  the  control  of  its 
instigators,  and  determining  to  obtain  the  liquors  at 
all  hazards. 

It  is  of  little  moment  whether  the  real  purpose  of 
those  who  caused  the  trouble  was  thus  correctly 
related.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  most  charitable  view  to 
be  taken  of  it.  Whatever  their  original  purpose  may 
have  been,  a  mob  was  the  result  of  what  they  said  and 
did.     It  resorted  to  unlawful  means  to  accomplish  an 


538  REMINISCENCES 

unlawful  act.     The  authorities  had  but  one  duty  to 
perform. 

More  than  thirty  years  have  elapsed  since  that 
event.  Most  of  those  who  had  to  do  with  that  riot, 
either  officially  or  otherwise,  have  passed  away.  In  a 
few  years  at  most,  I  must  follow.  Yet  after  the 
amplest  opportunity  for  reflection,  I  find  myself 
justified  in  the  solemn  declaration  that  I  have  never 
for  a  moment  believed  that  the  mayor  either  failed  in 
his  duty,  or  exceeded  any  part  of  it,  whether  in  con- 
nection with  the  riot,  the  circumstances  which  led 
up  to  it,  or  those  which  followed  upon  it. 

A  coroner's  inquest  with  the  .jury  impaneled  in  the 
usual  way,  was  held  over  the  dead  body  of  the  rioter. 
It  found  that  the  deceased  "came  to  his  death  by  a 
gunshot  wound,  a  musket,  a  pistol,  or  revolver  ball, 
shot  through  his  body  by  some  person  unknown  to 
the  inquest,  acting  under  the  authority  and  order  of 
the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  of  Portland  in 
defense  of  the  city  property  from  the  ravages  of  an  ex- 
cited mob,  unlawfully  congregated  for  that  purpose, 
of  which,  he,  the  said  deceased,  was  found  to  be  one. " 

Foiled  in  their  original  plans  to  injure  Neal  Dow 
and  the  Maine  Law,  nothing  now  remained  to  the  in- 
stigators of  the  riot  but  to  make  the  most  out  of  the 
excitement  to  which  it  naturally  gave  rise,  in  order  to 
cover  their  own  tracks,  which  led  from  the  inception 
of  the  trouble  directly  to  the  corpse  of  the  victim  of 
their  error.  They  accordingly  induced  another  cor- 
oner, witli  a  jury,  every  one  of  whom  was  notoriously 
a  bitter  personal  and  political  enemy  of  the  mayor, 
and  an  opponent  of  the  Maine  Law,  to  hold  another  in- 
quest. Of  course  that  jury  brought  in  the  verdict  it 
was  packed  to  find.     In  substance  it  declared  that 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  539 

Neal  Dow  was  punishable  either  for  manslaughter  or 
murder,  and  called  upon  the  grand  jury  to  ascer- 
tain which.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  grand  jury 
did  nothing  of  the  kind. 

Commenting  upon  this  so-called  verdict,  a  political 
paper  published  in  the  city  said: 

"It  is  the  very  spawn  of  the  pit,  for  so  diabolical  a  verdict 
was  never  rendered  by  mortal  man." 

The  same  paper  proceeded  to  call  those  engaged  in 
procuring  the  verdict: 

"A  band  of  conspirators  against  the  welfare  of  society,  a 
set  of  shameless  profligates,  a  horde  of  desperate  adventurers, 
a  motley  crew  of  political  gamesters,  a  perfidious  junta  of 
civil  pirates  such  as  rarely  infest  any  community." 

A  city  religious  paper  commenting  upon  it,  said: 

"To  our  view,  in  short,  the  whole  thing  is  simply  infamous, 
and  such,  we  are  sure,  will  be  the  ultimate  verdict  of  the 
community.  Instead  of  fastening  any  charge  of  unjustifiable 
homicide  upon  Mr.  Dow,  this  coroner's  jury  in  their  verdict 
have  shown  themselves  guilty  of  murderous  intent  aoainst 
him." 

Meanwhile  the  mayor  sent  a  message  to  the  city 
council,  covering  all  the  facts,  whereupon  it  was 
ordered: 

"  That  the  report  of  the  mayor  of  the  transaction  of  June 
2d,  which  has  heen  read  at  this  board,  be  adopted  and  pub- 
lished as  a  true  history  of  the  occurrences  of  that  day  and 
night,  and  that  it  be  entered  on  the  city  record." 

A  non-partisan  committee  was  appointed  by  the  city 
council,  consisting  of  seventeen  highly  respected 
citizens,  which  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  investi- 
gating the  whole  affair.  That  committee  gave  nearly 
a  month's  time,  taking  a  large  amount  of  testimony, 
and  submitted  an  exhaustive  report  to  the  city 
council,  which  was  accepted  with  but  one  dissenting 


540  REMINISCENCES 

voice,   that  of  the  alderman  who  subsequently  dis- 
closed to  me  the  purpose  of  the  instigators  of  the  riot, 
as  before  related. 
I  quote  a  few  extracts  from  that  report. 

"Here  Avas  a  question  not  merely  whether  a  quantity  of 
liquor  should  l)e  destroyed,  for  that  would  be  of  compara- 
tively small  importance,  but  whether  law  should  be  vindicated 
and  triumphant,  and  the  peace  and  property  of  the  city  be 
preserved,  or  whether  mob  violence  should  rule  the  hour, 
trample  upon  law  and  order,  and  break  down  the  great 
barrier  which  protects  the  life,  the  property,  and  the  happi- 
ness of  our  people That    the    mayor    did    not    call 

upon  an  armed  force  too  large  or  too  soon,  is  apparent  from 
the  testimony.  This  additional  force  was  not  employed  until 
the  regular  police  was  nearly  overpowered  and  an  alderman 
fresh  from  the  scene  had  entreated  the  mayor  to  proceed 
without  further  delay  with  the  auxiliary  force  to  preserve  the 
property  and  rescue  the  police  from  imminent  peril.  There 
is  no  evidence  of  undue  precipitancy  on  the  part  of  the  mayor 
any  more  than  there  is  of  timidity  and  shrinking  from  duty." 

The  report  concludes: 

"  The  committee,  on  a  careful  and  laborious  investigation 
of  the  whole  case,  is  satisfied  that  the  mayor  and  other  execu- 
tive officers  of  the  city  did  no  more  in  the  emergency  than 
their  duty  and  the  public  service  required,  and  that  they 
would  have  proved  unfaithful  to  their  trust  had  they  done 
less." 

Among  the  signatures  appended  to  that  report  was 
that  of  William  Willis,  as  chairman  of  the  committee. 
He  was  a  lawyer  of  high  standing  in  the  state,  a  man 
whose  reputation  in  all  tilings  honorable  and  upright 
did  not  need  the  attestation  which  it  received  by  his 
election  as  mayor  of  the  city  within  two  years  after 
he  signed  that  document. 

Another  signature  was  that  of  Rev.  William  T. 
Dwight,  as  secretary.  Dr.  Dwight  at  that  time  liad 
lived  for  years,  in  this  city,  as  the  able,   honored. 


OF   XEAL    DOW.  541 

loved  pastor  of  the  Third  Parish  Congregational 
church.  He  enjoyed  a  reputation  throughout  his 
days  for  a  character  and  life  in  keeping  with  his 
high  and  holy  calling. 

On  the  Tuesday  following  the  riot  my  trial  com- 
menced, on  the  complaint  of  having  liquors  in  my 
possession  with  intent  to  sell  in  violation  of  law. 
So  great  was  the  public  interest  that  the  court  was 
held  in  the  City  Hall  instead  of  its  ordinary  chamber. 
The  counsel  for  the  prosecution  was  Nathan  Clifford, 
an  ex-attorney  general  of  the  United  States,  and  after- 
wards a  justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. 
My  counsel  was  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  United 
States  senator.  The  prosecution  endeavored  to 
show  that  though  tlie  liquors  were  bought  in  the 
name  and  for  the  use  of  the  city  there  was  no 
actual  authority  for  the  purchase,  and  that  there- 
fore the  respondent  must  be  held  to  have  bought 
them  for  himself;  that  an  actual  transfer  of  the 
liquors  to  the  city  must  follow;  that  such  transfer 
would  amount  to  a  sale  under  the  statute;  and 
therefore  the  respondent  was  subject  to  fine  and 
imprisonment.  The  case  was  argued  at  length  on 
both  sides. 

The  court,  Judge  Henry  Carter,  in  its  decision, 
reviewed  all  the  testimony,  and  concluded  as  follows: 

"From  the  whole  evidence  the  court  finds  that  these 
liquors  were  ordered  by  a  committee  chosen  by  the  board 
of  aldermen  for  that  purpose,  and  that  they  were  ordered  for 
the  city  agency  and  for  lawful  sale ;  that  they  were  sent 
marked  and  invoiced  to  the  city  agency ;  that  they  wore 
placed  in  the  room  which  had  been  appropriated  for  the  city 
agency,  and  found  in  the  possession  of  the  city  agent,  legally 
appointed  previous  to  this  complaint.  From  these  facts  the 
court  decides  they  were  not  kept  hy  the  defendant   with   an 


542  KEMINISCEXCES 

intent  to  sell  in  violation  of  law,  and  that  he  is  not  guilty 
of  the  charge  made  against  him  in  the  complaint.  It  is 
ordered,  therefore,  that  he  Ije  discharged,  and  that  the  liquors 
seized  by  the  officer  be  returned  to  the  city  agent,  from  whom 
they  were  taken." 

I  cannot  refrain  from  adding  that,  upon  the 
announcement  of  the  decision,  the  great  crowd 
which  thronged  the  hall  burst  into  cheering. 

The  governor  of  Maine,  under  date  of  June  11, 
1855,  wrote  a  letter  to  Hon.  Edward  C.  Delevan, 
of  New  York,  which  was  extensively  published  and 
from  which  I  quote: 

"Ere  this  is  received,  you  will  have  heard  of  the  recent 
riot  in  Portland,  the  arrest  of  the  mayor,  Hon.  Neal  Dow,  for 
the  alleged  violation  of  the  Maine  Law,  and  also  his  most 
triumphant  acquittal  and  justification  for  the  action  he  took  in 

quelling    that    riot The   whole  aliair    has    proved    a 

pitial)le  failure  on  the  part  of  those  who  wickedly  instigated 
it.  Mayor  Dow  and  those  true  men  who  aided  him  in 
quelling  the  mob  on  that  trying  occasion  merit  and  will 
receive   the  support    and    approbation  of   all    good  citizens." 

A  short  time  after  the  publication  of  the  report 
of  the  investigating  committee,  several  citizens  whose 
sympathies  and  influence  had  been  hostile  to  the  city 
authorities  in  the  matter  of  the  riot,  took  advantage 
of  a  ijolice  incident  to  call  upon  me  and  to  express 
in  most  kindly  terms  their  regrets  for  the  past. 
The  occurrence  which  they  alleged  as  the  reason 
for  their  call  was  a  trifling  one,  yet  because  they 
thought  it  sufficient  to  lead  them  to  that  courtesy, 
I  am  inclined  to  relate  it. 

One  evening  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock,  word 
was  brought  to  the  mayor's  office  that  a  notoriously 
turbulent  man,  of  great  muscular  strength,  was  crazy 
drunk,  and  was  threatening  to  shoot  his  wife  and 
children,    who  had  locked  themselves  into  a  room. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  543 

which  he  was  trying  to  enter,  and  that  the  police 
on  the  beat  were  helpless.  Repairing  immediately 
to  the  scene,  I  found  that  the  fellow,  armed  with  a 
double-barreled  gun,  two  pistols,  and  two  sabres, 
was  near  the  head  of  a  flight  of  stairs  leading  to 
his  tenement,  bidding  defiance  to  everybody  and 
threatening  to  shoot  any  who  should  approach  to 
arrest  him.  He  was  thus  holding  four  policemen 
at  bay,  and  meanwhile  was  trying  to  burst  open 
the  door,  behind  which  his  wife  and  children  had 
taken  refuge. 

Looking  up  the  stairway,  I  saw  an  open  window 
in  the  back  of  the  hall  where  the  ruffian  was  standing. 
Going  to  the  rear  of  the  building,  I  sent  two  of  the 
policemen  for  a  ladder,  which  was  placed  so  that  I 
could  jump  from  it  through  the  open  window.  This 
I  did,  grappling  with  the  fellow,  and  holding  him 
until  the  police  came  up  the  stairs  and  handcuffed 
him.  The  charges  in  the  gun  were  subsequently 
drawn  in  my  presence  and  found  to  contain  in  each 
barrel  over  forty  buckshot.  Active,  wiry,  muscular, 
myself,  I  ran  no  great  risk,  but  the  incident  led  to 
much  talk,  and  was  the  excuse  given  for  the  courteous 
calls  and  expressions  referred  to. 

Complimentary  references  to  retiring  officials  are 
often  perfunctory,  but  after  the  bitterness  which 
had  been  aroused  by  the  events  I  have  hastily 
sketched,  commendation  for  the  "able,  efficient, 
and  entirely  satisfactory  manner  in  which  Neal 
Dow  has  discharged  the  duties  of  mayor"  which 
at  the  close  of  my  term  was  unanimously  recorded 
by  both  boards,  in  each  of  which  the  opposition 
was  represented,  may  be  fairly  considered  as  of 
more  than  ordinary  significance. 


544  REMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL    DOW. 

In  dismissing  the  subject,  I  add  that  two  or 
three  years  subsequent  to  the  time  when  personal 
and  political  opponents  were,  as  above  related, 
charging  me  with  murder  in  connection  with  this 
riot,  I  was  unanimously  elected  a  representative 
from  the  city  to  the  legislature.  The  nomination 
by  my  party  was  made  to  afford  an  opportunity 
for  a  popular  vindication,  while  leading  political 
opponents  frankly  and  politely  said  to  me  that 
after  all  the  circumstances  they  deemed  it  only 
fair  to  pay  me  the  compliment  of  declining  to 
nominate  a  candidate  against  me. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


PROGEESS   OF    PEOHIBITION   IN    OTHER    STATES.       DEFEAT   OF 

GOVERNOR     MORRILL.         ELECTION     OF     A     HOSTILE 

LEGISLATURE.        REPEAL     OF     THE     MAINE 

LAW.        DISSATISFACTION   OF   THE 

PEOPLE.       RESTORATION 

OF   PROHIBITION. 


The  influence  of  the  Maine  Law  for  good  was  felt 
ahnost  immediately  in  every  municipality  in  Maine 
where  it  was  enforced  with  any  degree  of  vigor, 
which  was  the  case  as  to  the  major  portion  of  the 
state,  and  the  advantages  following  upon  it  were 
generally  in  proportion  to  the  faithfulness  of  the 
ofiicials  whose  duty  it  was  to  see  to  its  execution. 
In  some  towns,  as  has  been  stated,  municipal  officers 
were  chosen  known  to  be  opposed  to  the  law,  and  in 
such  cases  but  little,  if  any,  attention  was  paid  to  it. 
Intelligent,  observing  citizens  could  not  fail  to  notice 
the  great  difference  between  a  town  cursed  with  the 
trade  and  one  free  from  it,  and  unless  they  were 
themselves  directly  or  indirectly  interested  in  the 
traffic  or  in  some  one  who  was,  they  were  thus  led  to 
favor  Prohibition. 

Wherever  the  law  was  enforced  there  was  soon 
comparative  freedom  from  the  disgusting  and  brutal- 


546  REMINISCENCES 

izing  exhibitions  inseparable  from  the  liquor-traffic, 
such  as  drunkenness,  brawls,  disturbances,  begging, 
squalor,  and  wretchedness;  there  was  a  reduction  in 
the  public  expense  due  to  pauperism  and  crime. 
Laborers  lost  less  time,  and  earned  more  money,  while 
they  were  employed.  They  were  thus  able  to  provide 
better  for  their  families,  and  became  more  disposed 
and  able  to  do  so.  AVitli  the  removal  of  the  tempta- 
tion to  waste  time,  throw  away  money,  impair 
strength  and  ruin  health  in  grog-shops  came  the 
means  and  desire  to  command  and  enjoy  more  of 
the  comforts  of  life.  The  sales  of  legitimate  traders, 
therefore,  were  larger,  their  collections  easier,  and 
their  losses  from  bad  debts  smaller. 

The  law  steadily  grew  in  public  favor,  though 
hatred  of  it  entertained  by  the  liquor-interest  was  not 
less.  There  were  at  times  and  places  occasional  re- 
actions and  apparent  reverses.  Unquestionably  my 
defeat  as  a  candidate  for  re-election  as  mayor  in  1852 
might  have  been  avoided  by  less  vigor  on  my  part  in 
the  execution  of  the  law.  I  understood  that  as  well 
as  any ;  and  if  I  had  been  too  obtuse  to  comprehend  it, 
the  abundant  suggestions  I  received  to  that  effect 
would  have  enlightened  me.  But  the  effort  of  the 
liquor-traffic  to  compass  my  defeat  enabled  other 
Maine-Law  men  to  succeed  in  other  communities 
where  defeat  would  have  been  more  discouraging  to 
them  than  it  was  to  me. 

We  have  seen  that  Governor  Hubbard  failed  of  a 
re-election  in  1852,  because  of  his  official  approval  of 
Prohibition,  but  the  same  element  which  then  rallied 
over  twenty  thousand  anti-Maine  Law  votes  for 
Chandler,  two  years  later  was  unable  to  poll  three 
thousand  five  hundred  for  Gary.     The  difference  did 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  547 

not  represent,  perhaps,  an  altogether  sincere  conver- 
sion to  the  prohibitory  faith.  Some  self-respecting 
men  came  to  be  ashamed  to  be  counted  as  opponents 
of  a  measure  which  had  so  unmistakably  blessed  the 
state  as  had  the  Maine  Law. 

The  difference  between  the  mass-meeting  which  so 
unanimously  and  so  enthusiastically  nominated  me 
for  mayor  in  1855,  and  the  gathering  which  divided 
over  the  same  question  in  the  same  place  in  the 
spring  of  1853,  indicated  a  great  change  in  public 
sentiment,  quite  as  much  as  did  my  election  in  1855 
by  substantially  the  same  vote  as  that  by  which  I  was 
defeated  in  1852. 

With  the  opening  of  1855,  it  may  be  said,  the  great 
preponderance  of  public  sentiment  in  the  state  at 
large  was  heartily  favorable  to  the  Maine  Law,  and 
its  impartial,  faithful  enforcement.  And  this  may  be 
said  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  law  had  fully 
justified  the  predictions  of  the  early  friends  of  Prohi- 
bition in  the  state  as  to  the  advantages  sure  to  follow 
upon  the  suppression  of  the  liquor-traffic,  as  well  as 
to  the  zeal  of  its  advocates  in  so  utilizing  the  favor- 
able sentiment  as  to  make  it  efl'ective. 

Encouraged  by  what  had  been  done  in  Maine,  soon 
after  the  adoption  of  the  Maine  Law,  a  great  many 
Christian  and  philanthropic  citizens  in  other  states,  in 
fact  throughout  the  English-speaking  world,  began  to 
interest  themselves  to  secure  prohibitory  legislation. 
These  efforts  were  continued  until,  in  1855,  about 
four  years  and  a  half  after  its  enactment  in  Maine, 
the  law  was  in  substance  that  of  several  states. 

These  included,  besides  all  NeAv  England,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana,  Iowa  and 
Delaware.     In  several  other  states  attempts  had  been 


548  EEMIXISCENCES 

made  to  the  same  end,  failing  sometimes  in  one  house^ 
sometimes  in  the  other,  sometimes  in  both,  and  at 
least  in  one  instance  where  it  had  run  the  legislative 
gauntlet,  the  law  had  failed  to  secure  the  approval  of 
the  people  to  whom  it  had  been  submitted  for  ratifi- 
cation. Prohibition  had  also  been  adopted  in  New 
Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward's  Island, 
among  the  British  Provinces,  while  in  other  states 
and  in  Canada  and  Great  Britian,  it  was  commanding 
general  attention.  In  most  of  those  states  where  the 
agitation  had  made  sufficient  progress  to  result  in 
legislative  action,  I  had  borne  some  part  in  the  discus- 
sion of  it  before  the  people.  Such  also  had  been  my 
privilege  as  well,  in  Canada,  New  Brunswick,  and 
Nova  Scotia. 

It  may  now  be  well  to  note  that  the  conditions 
under  which  much  of  this  legislation  was  secured, 
differed  from  those  prevailing  in  Maine  at  the  time  of 
the  enactment  of  its  law.  In  most  of  them  public 
sentiment  was  speedily  aroused  to  favor  Prohibition 
by  the  success  of  the  policy  in  Maine  where  its  adop- 
tion had  been  preceded  by  many  years  of  most 
thorough,  educational  work,  during  which  the  people 
had  been  firmly  grounded  upon  the  foundation  princi- 
ples of  the  reform.  In  some  of  the  states  which, 
following  the  example  of  Maine,  adoi)ted  Prohibition, 
as  much  progress  was  made  in  awakening  public 
attention  to  the  evils  of  the  liciuor-traffic  in  a  few 
months  as  had  been  accomplished  in  ten  or  a  dozen 
years  in  Maine.  Consequently,  conditions  were  not 
as  favorable  for  resisting  reaction  or  for  recovering 
from  a  reverse  should  such  follow  the  desperate 
efforts  of  the  liquor-traffic  when  it  should  feel  the 
choking  grip  at  its  throat  of  enforced  Prohibition. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  549 

In  Maine,  however,  it  was  different.  Here,  I  tliink 
it  may  be  safely  said  that  the  foundations  upon  which 
Prohibition  was  erected  had  been  more  thoroughly 
and  substantially  constructed  tlian  elsewhere.  Years 
of  patient,  self-sacrificing,  systematic,  educational 
work,  in  which  hundreds  of  her  citizens  had  been 
active  with  that  special  object  in  view,  liad  preceded 
the  adoption  of  the  Maine  Law.  Prohibition,  thus 
intrenched  behind  the  intelligence  and  conscience  of 
the  people,  when  the  liquor-traffic  commenced  its  fight 
for  life  in  Maine,  was  able  to  hold  its  ground  until  an 
opportunity  was  afforded  it  to  demonstrate  something 
of  the  good  it  was  calculated  to  do.  Maine,  there- 
fore, was  better  prepared  to  recover  from  the  reverse 
which  Prohibition  was  here  about  to  experience  than 
were  most  of  the  other  states  which  had  so  promptly 
followed  her  lead. 

Let  no  one  imagine  that  for  that  reason  efforts  to 
secure  Prohibition  should  be  postponed  "until  the 
people  are  prepared  for  it."  Preparation  for  reform 
is  made,  not  by  a  disposition  to  defer  it  but  by  labor 
to  obtain  it.  He  who  favors  Prohibition  to-day  does 
something  to  make  it  possible  at  some  time  in  the 
future.  He  who  opposes  it  now,  aids  its  indefinite 
postponement. 

Notwithstanding  the  long  and  thorough  prepara- 
tory work  which  had  preceded  the  adoption  of  her 
now  famous  law,  Maine  was  to  reverse  her  position, 
while  the  policy  she  had  inaugurated  was  elsewhere 
in  the  full  tide  of  success.  That  change  was  princi- 
pally due  to  misrepresentations  as  to  the  June  riot, 
the  story  of  which  was  related  in  the  last  chapter. 

Every  possible  use  was  made  of  that  affair  to  break 
down  Prohibition,  not  only  by  the  liquor-interest,  but 

36 


550  REMINISCENCES 

by  many  leaders  of  the  anti-Republican  coalition  in 
order  to  embarrass  and  defeat  the  new  political 
organization  which,  under  the  name  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  was  to  contest  for  the  first  time,  a  state 
election.  This  was  to  occur  in  the  September  follow- 
ing the  riot,  before  time  had  served  to  allay  the 
excitement  aroused  through  that  event  by  the  enemies 
of  the  law.  But,  even  under  circumstances  favorable 
to  the  liquor-interest,  the  opposition  to  the  party  that 
was  pledged  to  the  Maine  Law  did  not  deem  it 
prudent  to  make  the  fight  upon  an  avowed  anti- 
prohibitory  platform.  So  persistently  did  it  declare 
itself  favorable  to  "a  suitable  prohibitory  law,"  that, 
although  the  election  in  1855  resulted  adversely  to 
the  Republican  party,  and  thus  made  certain  the 
repeal  of  some  of  the  features  of  the  law,  a  return  to 
license  was  not  anticipated  by  the  friends  of  Prohibi- 
tion until  about  the  time  for  the  assembling  of  the 
legislature  in  January,  1856. 

The  Republican  party  had  been  organized  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1855;  had  declared  the  maintenance  and 
enforcement  of  the  Maine  Law  to  be  one  of  its 
fundamental  principles,  and  had  nominated  Anson 
P.  Morrill,  as  its  candidate  for  governor.  The  spring 
town  elections  that  year  promised  Republican  success 
in  Sei)tember.  The  most  intensely  hated  of  the 
friends  of  Prohibition  in  the  state,  had  been  elected 
mayor  in  Portland,  where  the  liquor-interest  was  the 
strongest.  Less  than  two  months  later  followed  the 
June  riot,  and  shortly  after  this  in  the  ordinary 
course,  the  campaign  preparatory  to  the  September 
election  opened. 

The  Democrats  nominated  Samuel  Wells,  of  Port- 
land, for  governor.     Mr.  Wells  was  a  lawyer,  a  man 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  551 

of  unsullied  private  character,  and  had  been  a  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  state.  He  was  free  from 
all  connection  with  either  faction  in  his  party,  and 
could  not  be  suspected  of  any  sympathy  with  the 
liquor-traffic.  The  convention  which  nominated  him, 
though  denouncing  the  existing  statute  in  unmeas- 
ured terms,  declared  itself  as  favorable  to  "suitable 
prohibitory  laws."" 

What  was  left  of  the  Whig  party  again  nominated 
Isaac  Reed.  It  now  retained  few  of  its  old  leaders, 
besides  those  who,  unprepared  to  enter  the  Republi- 
can party,  were  not  willing  to  subjugate  their 
prejudices  against  the  Democratic  name  and  connect 
themselves  with  that  organization,  until  they  had 
made  satisfactory  terms  as  to  their  own  future 
with  their  lifelong  political  antagonists.  Though 
defunct  nationally,  Whiggery  in  Maine  was  now 
made  to  assist  in  rehabilitating  Maine  Democracy. 

These  opponents  of  the  Republican  party,  profiting 
by  their  experience  and  observation  during  the  past 
few  years,  now  united  upon  legislative  and  county 
tickets  and  pushed  the  campaign  with  great  vigor. 
One  of  the  most  warmly  disputed  contests  in  the 
history  of  the  state  followed.  The  anti-Republican 
coalition  made  the  most  of  the  June  riot.  While 
insisting  through  its  organs  and  orators  that  it  was 
favorable  to  "suitable  prohibitory  laws,"  it  was 
vehement  in  persistent  denunciation  of  a  law 
which  it  maintained  had  caused,  and  would  certain- 
ly continue  to  cause,  bloodshed. 

It  is  useless  to  dwell  upon  details.  The  country 
districts  were  flooded  with  circulars  full  of  misstate- 
ments and  pictures  representing  officers  shooting 
women    and    children    who    had    gathered    to    see 


552  EEMINISCENCES 

liquors  seized,  or  who  were  passing  the  stores 
where  liquors  were  kept.  One  of  these  is  before 
me  while  I  write,  representing  a  company  of  uni- 
formed soldiers  firing  under  my  orders  into  a  throng 
of  men,  women  and  children,  passing  on  the  opposite 
sidewalk,  peacefully  attending  in  broad  daylight  to 
their  legitimate  pursuits.  I  was  made  the  special 
object  of  attack  and  the  resources  of  the  language 
were  exhausted  for  epithets  to  apply  to  me,  while 
the  Republican  party  was  as  roundly  denounced  for 
its  fellowship  with  me. 

As  a  whole,  the  Republican  party  did  not  shrink 
from  the  issue  forced  upon  it.  Its  state  and  county 
conventions  in  resolutions  opposed  the  repeal  of  the 
law,  and  its  legislative  nominees  were  squarely 
committed  to  maintaining  the  existing  prohibitory 
legislation.  Nevertheless,  it  is  true  that  some  of  the 
old  Whig  leaders  who  had  obtained  front  seats  in  the 
new  organization  would  have  ignored  Prohibition  if 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  party  had  permitted  it.  They 
thought  they  could  better  draw  upon  what  was  left  of 
the  old  Whig  element  by  making  the  fight  solely 
upon  national  questions,  but,  as  a  general  rule,  the 
masses  of  the  party  held  the  leaders  up  to  the  pro- 
hibitory issue.  One  incident  will  illustrate  the 
tendency  at  that  time: 

A  great  mass  convention  was  held  in  Portland.  It 
was  the  largest  political  gathering  up  to  that  time 
held  in  the  state.  No  hall  or  public  square  in  the 
city  could  accommodate  it,  and  the  assembled  thou- 
sands formed  into  a  great  procession  and  marched  to 
the  ' '  Oaks, "  that  beautiful  grove  in  the  outskirts  of 
the  city,  immortalized  in  the  verse  of  Longfellow. 
The  speakers  on  the  occasion  were  Governor  Cleve- 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  553 

land,  of  Connecticut,  Senators  Benjamin  Wade,  of 
Ohio,  and  John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  all  of 
whom,  by  the  way,  with  Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, had  called  on  me  at  the  mayor's  office 
during  the  day.  The  incident  was  impressed  upon 
my  memory  because  Mr.  Banks  told  me  that  his  first 
speech  was  on  temperance  and  was  made  before  a 
fire  engine-company,  of  which  he  was  at  the  time  a 
member. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  meeting,  after  all  the 
speeches,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  on  resolu- 
tions, my  friend,  John  L.  Stevens,  already  mentioned, 
reix)rted  a  list  which  was  adopted  with  enthusiasm. 
There  was  no  reference  to  Prohibition,  whereupon  a 
man  in  the  crowd  shouted  with  stentorian  voice,  so  as 
to  be  heard  to  its  outermost  limits,  "  Give  us  a  resolu- 
tion endorsing  the  Maine  Law!"  This  demand  was 
so  vociferously  cheered  that  Mr.  Stevens  immediately 
sat  down  and  wrote  the  following: 

"  Resoh^ed,  That  the  perpetuation  and  execution  of  the 
Maine  Law  are  among  the  fundamental  issues  of  the  Republi- 
can party  of  Maine." 

The  real  reason  of  the  committee  for  withholding 
that  resolution  was  that  the  speakers  for  the  day  were 
from  without  the  state,  and  the  committee  feared  that 
it  might  not  be  so  agreeable  to  the  strangers  to  be 
thus  in  a  measure  by  their  presence  committed  to 
what  was  deemed  a  local  issue.  But  in  submitting 
the  resolution  he  had  prepared  at  the  demand  of  the 
people,  Mr.  Stevens  said  in  substance: 

"  Our  opponents  have  often  insisted  that  the  leaders  are 
forcing  the  Maine-Law  issue  upon  the  people,  and  the  com- 
mittee thought  it  better  not  to  offer  one  with  their  regular 
report.     I  am  glad,  however,  it  has  been  demanded." 


554  REMINISCENCES 

The  resolution  was  adopted  with  greater  applause 
than  had  been  accorded  to  the  original  report  of  the 
committee.  "Now,"  shouted  the  same  voice,  "give 
us  Neal  Dow  for  half  an  hour,  and  then  we'll  go 
home  satisfied!"  This,  too,  was  loudly  cheered,  and 
when  the  chairman  announced  that  he  had  been 
informed  that  Neal  Dow  was  not  present,  the  same 
irrepressible,  enthusiastic  Maine-Law  man  in  the 
crowd  called  for  "Three  cheers  for  Neal  Dow!" 
which  were  given  with  a  will. 

It  is  to  be  understood  by  all  now  as  I  understood 
it  at  the  time;  that  cheering  was  not  for  me  in 
person.  I  was  nothing  to  that  great  crowd  of  people 
save  as  I  happened  to  represent  the  principle  to  which 
they  subscribed,  and  the  policy  which  they  knew  had 
so  promoted  the  material  and  moral  concerns  of  the 
state.  It  may  have  been  due  also,  in  part,  to  the  fact 
that  many  public  meetings  in  various  portions  of  the 
state  had  been  recently  held,  called  "Neal  Dow 
meetings,"  in  which  resolutions  were  passed  com- 
mending the  course  of  the  city  authorities  in  the 
June  riot,  about  two  months  before. 

The  total  vote  at  that  election  was  the  largest  that 
had  been  thrown  in  Maine,  exceeding  by  nearly  six 
thousand  that  of  the  Hubbard  campaign  of  1852. 
Though  Governor  Morrill's  vote  was  larger  than  that 
of  the  year  before  by  more  than  fifteen  per  cent,  and 
larger  than  any  candidate  for  governor  had  before 
received,  and  three  thousand  in  excess  of  that  for 
Judge  AVells,  it  was  less  than  a  majority,  as  Mr. 
Reed  polled  almost  eleven  thousand  votes.  The 
choice  of  governor  was  thus  again  thrown  into  the 
legislature. 

The  coalition,  including  vacancies  afterwards  filled, 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  555 

had  chosen  to  that  body  twenty  Democratic  and 
nine  Whig  senators,  and  sixty-eight  Democrats  and 
twenty-two  Whigs  to  the  house.  To  the  senate  two 
Republicans  had  been  elected,  and  to  the  house, 
sixty-one.  Judge  Wells  was  chosen  governor  in  the 
mode  in  such  cases  prescribed  by  the  Constitution. 

There  were  many,  more  or  less  prominent  in  the 
Democratic  party,  who  deemed  it  unwise  politically 
to  foist  the  license  system  again  upon  the  state.  It 
was  true,  they  said,  that  the  party  was  conunitted 
to  opposition  to  the  existing  Maine  Law,  but  its 
organs  and  its  orators  during  the  campaign  had 
urged  while  canvassing  for  votes  that  the  principle 
of  Prohibition  would  not  be  endangered  by  the 
success  of  the  coalition,  which  it  was  then  insisted 
was  solely  opposed  to  the  ' '  ill-considered,  unwise,  and 
arbitrary "  features  of  the  existing  law.  Election 
after  election,  they  argued,  had  shown  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  votes  distributed  among  candidates 
pledged  to  Prohibition. 

Was  it  not  possible,  nay,  probable,  they  asked, 
that  their  success  in  September  was  due  to  some 
temporary  excitement,  and  not  to  a  reversal  of  the 
prohibitory  sentiment  of  the  state?  Was  it  safe  to 
assume  that  the  people  of  Maine  were  disposed  to 
return  to  a  policy  which,  after  years  of  careful 
consideration  and  general  public  discussion,  they 
had  put  aside?  They  urged  that  the  true  policy 
for  the  incoming  legislature  would  be  to  modify  the 
prohibitory  law,  and  not  to  re-enact  the  license 
system. 

The  coalition  majority  of  the  legislature,  however, 
would  not  follow  such  advice,  and  the  prohibitory 
law  was  repealed  and  a  license  law  substituted,  this, 


556  REMINISCENCES 

however,  not  without  a  vigorous  protest  from  a 
minority  of  the  triumphant  coalition.  In  the  senate, 
the  president  of  that  body,  Lot  M.  Morrill,  left  the 
chair  to  make  an  earnest  speech  against  the  repeal. 
In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he  said: 

"  This  question  is  one,  not  of  to-day,  nor  of  to-morrow 
only,  it  is  one  of  the  future  ages ;  it  is  one  that  concerns  our 
business,  our  welfare,  and  our  dearest  rights.  A  man  that 
does  not  speak  now  does  not  deserve  to  have  his  rights 
protected." 

And  he  went  on  to  warn  his  political  associates  that 
if  they  enacted  a  license  law  their  action  would 
relegate  them  to  a  minority. 

The  bill  was  under  consideration  in  the  senate  for 
some  time.  The  discussion  was  mostly  confined  to 
the  coalition  senators,  hostile  to  Prohibition,  some 
frankly  avowing  that  they  did  not  dare  to  be  as 
"liberal*'  as  they  would  like,  and  others  admitting 
that  they  would  be  glad  were  the  bill  more  "strin- 
gent "  than  it  was.  It  finally  passed  in  the  senate  by 
a  vote  of  eighteen  to  four,  both  Repul)lican  senators. 
President  Morrill  and  one  other  coalition  senator 
voting  no.  In  the  house,  where,  after  two  or  three 
days'  delay,  the  vote  was  taken,  resulting  in  seventy- 
eight  in  favor  and  sixty-eight  opj30sed,  seven  of  the 
coalition  majority  voted  with  the  solid  Republican 
minority  in  opposition  to  license.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  in  passing  that  of  the  ninety-six  members  of  the 
legislature  who  voted  for  that  license  law,  but  five 
were  re-elected. 

Lot  M.  Morrill,  shortly  after  making  the  speech 
referred  to  in  opposition  to  the  re-enactment  of 
license,  abandoned  the  Democratic  party  and  identi- 
fied himself  with  the  Republicans.     In  a  little  more 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  557 

than  a  year  after  he  delivered  that  speech  he  was 
chosen  with  great  unanimity  as  the  Republican  candi- 
date for  governor.  His  nomination  was  followed  by 
an  election,  and  it  was  his  pleasure  to  sign  the  bill 
repealing  the  license  law,  against  the  passage  of 
which  he  had  protested,  and  to  approve  a  prohibitory 
law. 

The  repeal  of  the  Maine  Law,  on  the  whole,  proved 
to  be  of  lasting  advantage  to  the  cause  of  Proliibition 
in  Maine.  It  afforded  an  opportunity  to  contrast 
the  effects  of  that  policy  with  the  results  of  license, 
' '  toned  up  "  to  meet  in  a  measure  the  higher  demands 
of  the  pul)lic  sentiment  which  had  been  created  by 
Prohibition.  The  law  substituted  for  it  was  what 
was  called  a  "stringent"  license  law,  and  contained 
the  most  approved  features  of  the  so-called  "high 
license"  legislation  of  these  latter  days.  It  was 
drafted  by  Hon.  Phineas  Barnes,  of  Portland,  who 
was  a  coalition  senator  from  Cumberland  county  that 
year. 

Mr.  Barnes  was  a  total  abstainer  from  conviction. 
Earnestly  opposed  to  Prohibition,  he  nevertheless 
would  not  permit  the  influence  of  his  example,  as  to 
the  use  of  liquors,  to  be  thrown  on  the  wrong  side. 
He  could  not  be  suspected  of  any  sympathy  with  the 
liquor-traffic  i^er  se.  He  was  undoubtedly  anxious 
that  his  law  should  prove  more  satisfactory  to  the 
people  than  that  which  it  was  to  supi)lant.  He  drew 
it,  therefore,  with  great  care,  to  the  end  that  it 
should  meet  what  he  knew  was  the  public  wish,  for 
the  closest  possible  restriction  of  the  obnoxious  busi- 
ness, so  far  as  he  could  meet  that  wish  consistently 
with  his  opinion  that  the  traffic  should  have  legal 
recognition. 


558  REMINISCENCES 

The  vicious  principle  of  license  in  that  law  neutral- 
ized all  the  prohibitory  features  applied  to  unlicensed 
dealers  which  it  borrowed  from  the  legislation  of 
the  past  few  years.  It  re-established  a  legalized 
liquor-trade,  under  the  shelter  of  which  an  unlicensed 
and  illegal  traffic  began  to  thrive.  The  demoralizing 
effects  were  everywhere  apparent,  and  before  the  law 
had  been  in  operation  six  months  it  was  arousing 
great  opposition.  This,  however,  did  not  come  from 
the  class  which  had  antagonized  the  Maine  Law. 
Neither  the  liquor-sellers,  nor  the  advocates  of  liquor- 
selling,  complained  of  this  license  legislation.  Oppo- 
sition to  it  was  confined  to  that  class  whose  interests 
and  sympathies  were  with  sobriety,  order,  industry, 
thrift,  and  all  that  contributes  to  the  happiness  of  a 
people,  and  the  prosperity  of  a  state. 

Within  a  few  months  after  the  enactment  of  the 
new  license  law,  the  political  campaign  for  1856 
opened.  That,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the 
presidential  year  in  which  the  Republican  party 
fought  its  first  national  battle  with  John  C.  Fre- 
mont as  its  standard-bearer.  All  Maine  Republicans 
were  anxious  that  their  majority  in  September  should 
be  so  large  as  to  have  an  influence  upon  the  national 
election,  as  they  were  confident  that  the  state  was  to 
cast  its  electoral  vote  with  their  party. 

It  was  believed  by  some  prominent  Maine  Republi- 
cans, that  a  larger  majority  could  be  secured  by 
ignoring  that  year  the  question  of  Prohibition,  and  it 
was  accordingly  tacitly  agreed  that  the  license  law 
should  have  a  fair  trial,  that  no  attempt  should  be 
made  to  repeal  it  by  the  legislature  to  be  elected 
in  September,  that  reference  to  Prohibition  should 
be  excluded   from   the   i)arty  platform,  and  that  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  559 

campaign  should  be  run  upon  national  issues.  Tliis 
was  done  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  straight  Whig 
vote,  supposed  to  be  largely  inimical  to  Prohibition, 
and  upon  the  conviction  that  the  Prohibitionists  who 
had  been  misled  into  supporting  the  coalition  of  1855 
could  be  relied  upon,  in  any  event,  to  vote  with  the 
Republicans. 

It  is  proper  to  say  that  my  wish  and  judgment  were 
opposed  to  this  arrangement.  As  anxious  as  any  other 
Republican  that  the  majority  of  my  party  in  Septem- 
ber should  be  large  and  decisive,  I  had  more  faith  in 
the  strength  of  the  prohibition  issue  with  the  masses 
of  the  people  than  did  some  others.  But  many  of  the 
friends  of  that  policy  who  had  rendered  most  valu- 
able service  to  it  differed  from  me  upon  this  point, 
and  upon  the  assurance  that  in  1857  the  party  would 
commit  itself  to  Prohibition,  I  yielded. 

I  have  never  believed  that  five  hundred  votes  more 
were  secured  by  the  concession.  Indeed,  it  was 
impossible  to  keep  the  prohibition  issue  out  of  the 
canvass,  for,  though  I  personally  kept  faith  in  this  par- 
ticular, many  local  Republican  speakers  denounced 
the  coalition  for  its  disregard  of  the  popular  wish  as 
to  the  liquor-trafiic,  and  its  return  to  the  hated 
license  policy.  On  the  other  hand.  Democratic 
papers  and  speakers  kept  the  question  of  Prohibition 
in  prominence,  and,  insisting  that  Republican  success 
meant  the  re-establishment  of  the  Maine  Law,  urged 
that  the  re-election  of  Governor  Wells  was  necessary 
to  endorse  license  and  to  condemn  Prohibition. 

The  Republican  candidate  for  governor  was  Hanni- 
bal Hamlin.  Again  the  straight  Whigs  gave  aid 
and  comfort  to  their  old  antagonists,  and  while  sup- 
porting an  eminently  respectable  and  wealthy  citizen 


560  KEMINISCENCES 

of  Bath,  Mr.  George  F.  Patten,  as  a  gubernatorial  can- 
didate, joined  with  them  in  legislative  nominations. 
The  Eepublican  vote  was  sixty-nine  thousand  five  hun- 
dred; Wells  received  on  a  much  larger  total,  five 
thousand  less  votes  than  the  year  before;  the  straight 
Whig  vote  dropped  to  about  six  thousand  five  hun- 
dred. For  the  first  time  since  1850  a  governor  had 
been  elected  by  the  people,  and  this  by  a  majority 
of  nearly  twenty  thousand.  The  legislature  con- 
tained in  the  senate  thirty  Republicans  and  one 
Democrat;  in  the  house  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  Republicans  and  twenty-six  Democrats. 

I  have  heretofore  mentioned  a  great  outdoor  meet- 
ing held  on  the  eve  of  the  Buchanan-Fremont  presi- 
dential election  addressed  by  Senator  Hamlin  and  my- 
self. I  refer  to  it  again  because  an  incident  connected 
with  it  illustrates  the  general  sentiment  of  the  time 
as  to  Prohibition.  As  I  have  said,  in  the  state 
campaign  of  1856,  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  had  been  anxious  to  keep  everything 
pertaining  to  Prohibition  out  of  sight,  hence,  I  had 
taken  no  active  part  in  the  September  canvass,  the 
first  for  years  in  which  my  voice  had  not  been  fre- 
quently heard.  My  presence  at  that  meeting  was  my 
first  appearance  at  a  political  gathering  that  fall. 

I  have  elsewhere  stated  the  cause  for  the  mani- 
festation of  gratification  with  which  Mr.  Hamlin  was 
received.  As  to  my  welcome,  private  citizen  as  I 
was,  no  such  reason  obtained  for  enthusiasm  upon 
my  appearance,  as  in  the  case  of  the  distinguished 
senator.  I  may  not  enlarge  upon  my  reception  more 
than  to  say  that  it  was  by  far  the  greatest  demon- 
stration of  the  evening.  The  cheering  was  so  loud 
and  long-continued  that  an    opposition   meeting  in 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  501 

a  hall  in  tlie  vicinity  was  for  a  time  suspended 
because  so  many  of  those  present  rushed  out  into 
the  square  to  see  what  was  causing  the  great  excite- 
ment. To  me  the  affair  was  all  the  more  gratifying 
because  I  did  not  take  it  to  be  a  personal  ^'ompliment, 
but  rather  as  disclosing  the  strong  hold  of  the  policy 
with  which  my  name  was  identified  upon  the  con- 
victions and  sympathies  of  the  masses  of  the  newly 
organized  party. 

The  new  legislature  assembled  in  January,  1856. 
According  to  the  understanding  referred  to  no 
attempt  was  made  to  repeal  the  license  law.  It 
is,  however,  an  interesting  and  suggestive  fact, 
illustrative  of  the  public  mind  upon  that  question, 
that  though  the  statutes  were  republished  that  winter, 
the  license  law  was  not  incorporated  among  them. 
Allowed  to  remain  in  all  its  deformity  a  law  of  the 
state,  it  was  not  permitted  to  contaminate  the  general 
statutes  by  being  printed  in  the  same  volume  with 
them.  There  were  two  reasons  for  this:  A  vote 
could  not  be  carried  in  the  legislature  for  the  formal 
re-enactment  of  a  code  containing  it;  and  as  it  was 
certain  to  be  repealed  the  next  year,  it  was  not 
deemed  wise  to  cumber  the  new  volume  with  a  law 
so  soon  to  be  a  thing  of  the  past. 

In  1857  the  Kepublican  state  convention,  which 
nominated  Lot  M.  Morrill  for  governor,  adopted 
the  following  resolution: 

"  Eesolved,  That  the  license  liquor  law  passed  by  tlie 
legislature  of  1856  is  inadequate  to  the  suppression  of  the 
evils  of  intemperance,  and  that  the  public  welfare  can  best 
be  secured  by  a  suitable  prohibitory  law,  and  believing  that 
all  laws  should  be  not  only  just  and  constitutional,  but  per- 
manent, in  their  character  and  effect,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
removing  this  great  moral  question  from  the  arena  of  party 


562  REMINISCENCES 

politics,  we  recommend  that  an  enactment  designed  to  pro- 
hibit the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  be  submitted  to  the 
people  upon  some  early  day  other  than  that  of  our  annual 
state  election." 

The  Democratic  state  convention  committed  itself 
to  the  support  of  the  license  policy.  The  election 
resulted  in  the  choice  of  Mr.  Morrill  for  governor, 
and  a  legislature  overwhelmingly  Kepublican  in  both 
branches,  there  being,  if  I  remember  aright,  but  one 
senator  upon  the  license  platform  elected,  and  not 
over  forty  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  repre- 
sentatives. Hon.  William  W.  Thomas,  of  Portland, 
vras  a  member  of  the  senate,  and  was  made  chair- 
man of  the  temperance  committee. 

It  was  soon  evident  that  an  influence  was  operative 
to  prevent  any  action  looking  to  a  return  to  Prohibi- 
tion. This  the  friends  of  that  policy  did  not  fear  as 
much  as  the  more  influential  effort  to  introduce  into 
the  new  bill  a  provision  abhorrent  to  the  earnest  tem- 
perance men,  viz:  to  permit  the  manufacture  of  liquors 
in  the  state  to  be  sold  outside  its  borders. 

For  a  time  a  very  strenuous  effort  in  that  direction 
was  made  requiring  most  emphatic  protest  to  prevent 
it.  Distilling,  before  the  Maine  Law,  had  been  carried 
on  extensively  in  Portland.  Our  trade  with  the  West 
Indies  brought  to  our  wharves  great  quantities  of 
molasses,  and  some  of  our  leading  merchants  thought 
best  to  provide  for  its  distillation  here  into  rum,  not 
to  be  sold  in  Maine. 

To  meet  this  new  danger,  the  friends  of  Prohibition 
held  meetings  all  over  the  state,  which  adopted  reso- 
lutions and  protests  against  that  proposition.  Mr. 
Thomas,  the  chairman,  and  a  majority  of  his  commit- 
tee, were  sound  upon  the  question,  but  for  a  while  it 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  5(33 

was  feared  that  some  might  yield  to  the  mistaken  plea 
that  it  would  "help  business." 

Happily,  however,  the  people  of  Maine  had  been 
too  thoroughly  grounded  in  the  principles  underlying 
Prohibition,  and  the  proposition  to  relight  the  fires  of 
the  distilleries  of  Portland  was  buried  beneath  a 
storm  of  popular  denunciation. 

During  the  drafting  of  the  new  law,  Mr.  Thomas 
and  I  had  frequent  interviews,  and  his  firmness  and 
decision  secured  many  provisions  which  less  earnest 
Prohibitionists  than  he  would  gladly  have  omitted. 
The  bill  he  reported  passed  in  both  houses,  the  vote 
being,  in  the  senate,  yeas  24,  all  Republicans;  nays  1, 
Fusion;  in  the  house,  yeas  104,  all  Republicans;  nays 
27,  all  Fusion.  It  was  approved  by  the  governor  and 
submitted  to  the  people  at  a  special  election.  Tlie 
issue  presented  was  "The  Prohibitory  Law,  of  1858" 
or  "The  License  Law  of  1856."  This,  however,  was  a 
matter  of  form,  because  the  law  would  have  become 
operative  though  the  popular  vote  had  been  against  it. 
Under  the  circumstances,  it  was  not  expected  that 
there  would  be  a  very  general  expression  of  the  people 
at  the  polls,  but  the  vote  was,  for  Prohibition,  28,855, 
and  for  License,  5,912. 

The  re-enactment  of  Prohibition  was  the  signal  for 
a  cloud  of  predictions  from  its  opponents  that  the 
next  year  the  party  that  had  enacted  the  license  law 
of  1856  would  be  restored  to  power  and  Prohibition 
again  repealed.  Accordingly,  in  the  campaign  of 
1858,  they  made  that  issue  as  prominent  as  possible, 
only  to  be  emphatically  repudiated  at  the  polls. 

From  1858  to  this  day,  no  license  law  has  found  a 
place  in  the  legislation  of  the  state;  indeed,  no 
serious  attempt  has  been  made  to  restore  it,  for  when 


564  REMINISCENCES 

the  opposition  to  Prohibition  has  fairly  taken  the 
field,  with  announced  intention  of  re-enacting  license, 
it  has  been  unable  to  muster  enough  representatives 
and  senators  to  make  an  even  passable  effort  in  that 
direction.  In  the  one  legislature,  since  that  of  1856, 
which  has  been  controlled  by  the  opposition  to  the 
Republican  party  in  Maine,  no  such  attempt  was 
made.  On  the  other  hand,  the  party  which  has  gen- 
erally been  in  power  in  the  state,  has  almost  uni- 
formly inserted  a  plank  in  its  platform  endorsing 
Prohibition. 

The  resolution  of  1882  was: 

"  We  refer  with  confidence  and  pride  to  the  general  record 
of  the  Republican  party  in  support  of  the  policy  of  prohib- 
iting the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors,  the  wisdom  and 
efficiency  of  which  legislation  in  promoting  the  moral  and 
material  interests  of  Maine  have  been  demonstrated  through 
the  practical  annihilation  of  that  traffic  in  a  large  portion  of 
the  state,  and  we  favor  such  legislation  and  such  enforcement 
of  law  as  will  secure  to  every  portion  of  our  territory  free- 
dom from  that  traffic.  We  further  recommend  the  submis- 
sion to  the  people  of  a  constitutional  prohil)itory  amendment." 

The  circumstances  attending  the  adoption  of  the 
resolution  quoted  were  peculiarly  significant.  At  the 
last  preceding  state  election  the  Republican  party,  for 
the  first  time  since  its  organization  in  1854,  had  failed 
to  secure  a  plurality,  and  it  was  known  that  the 
contest  in  1882  was  to  be  particularly  sharp,  and  the 
leaders  were  anxious  to  put  the  party  upon  a  platform 
which  in  their  judgment  would  secure  the  largest 
number  of  votes.  That  resolution,  therefore,  shows 
the  judgment  of  the  experienced  politicians  of  the 
Repul)licaii  party  as  to  the  strength  of  Prohibition 
with  the  masses  of  the  people  of  Maine. 

The  legislature  elected  that  year  voted  to  submit  to 


or    NEAL    DOW.  565 

the  people  the  following  proposed  amendment  to  the 
Constitution : 

"  The  manufacture  of  intoxicating  liquors,  not  includino- 
cider,  and  the  sale  and  keeping  for  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
are  and  shall  be  forever  prohibited.  Except,  houcvcr,  that 
the  sale  and  keeping  for  sale  of  such  liquors  for  medicinal  and 
mechanical  purposes  and  the  arts,  and  the  sale  and  keeping 
for  sale  of  cider  may  be  permitted  under  such  regulations  as 
the  legislature  may  provide.  The  legislature  shall  enact  laws 
with  suitable  penalties  for  the  suppression  of  the  manufac- 
ture, sale  and  keeping  for  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  with 
the  exceptions  herein  specified." 

The  vote  submitting  this  amendment  in  the  sen- 
ate was:  yeas,  twenty-one  Republicans,  one  Fusion; 
nays,  one  Republican,  one  Fusion;  in  the  house, 
yeas,  eighty-five  Republicans,  six  Fusion;  nays,  eight 
Republicans,  twenty-three  Fusion.  The  popular 
vote  was  70,783  in  favor,  and  23,811  against  the 
amendment.  Neither  in  the  legislature  nor  before 
the  people  did  the  opponents  of  the  constitutional 
amendment  make  a  point  of  opposition  to  Prohibition 
per  se.  They  generally  confined  themselves  to  assert- 
ing that  it  was  not  wise,  however  desirable  Prohibi- 
tion might  be  in  itself  as  a  part  of  the  statutes,  to 
engraft  it  upon  the  fundamental  law  of  the  state. 

Ever  since  the  enactment  of  the  Maine  Law,  the 
liquor-interest,  in  and  out  of  Maine,  through  every 
agency  it  has  been  able  to  control,  has  insisted  that 
Prohibition  has  increased  the  sale  and  consumption 
of  liquor;  and  many  individuals,  above  suspicion 
of  any  interest  in  the  traffic,  have  been  misled  by 
that  clamor,  though  the  constant  and  virulent  opposi- 
tion of  the  trade  to  Prohibition  should  suggest  that 
in  such  assertions  the  liquor-sellers  and  their  sympa- 
thizers are  stating  what  they  know  to  be  untrue. 


566  EEMINISCENCES 

To  all  such  declarations,  coi:^iing  from  T\^liat  source 
they  may,  I  enter  a  general  denial,  without  fear  of 
contradiction  by  any  honest,  ol:)serving  citizen  of 
Maine;  and  maintain  that  whenever  and  wherever 
any  reasonably  active  and  earnest  effort  has  been 
made  to  enforce  Prohibition  in  this  state,  the  results 
have  amply  justified  the  hopes  of  its  friends.  That 
such  has  been  the  case  as  to  a  very  large  portion  of 
the  state  has  been  publicly  certified  to,  again  and 
again,  by  large  numbers  of  our  clergymen  and  by 
others  among  our  best  citizens,  including  men  as  widely 
known  as  are  ex-Governors  Lot  M.  Morrill,  Sidney 
Perham,  Nelson  Dingley,  Jr.,  Selden  Connor,  and 
Frederick  Robie;  l^y  United  States  Senators  Eugene 
Hale  and  William  P.  Frye;  by  ex-Governor  and 
ex- Vice-President  of  United  States  Hannibal  Ham- 
lin, and  by  James  G.  Blaine. 

A  volume  might  be  filled  with  the  testimony  of 
these  and  other  citizens  of  Maine,  to  the  great  benefits 
the  state  has  derived  through  the  policy  of  Prohibi- 
tion; but  I  will  content  myself  with  quoting  from  a 
recent  letter  of  James  G.  Blaine,  which  has  been 
extensively  circulated,  in  w^hich  he  said: 

*'The  people  of  Maine  are  industrious  and  provident,  and 
wise  laws  have  aided  them.  They  are  sober,  earnest,  and 
thrifty.  Intemperance  has  steadily  decreased  in  the  state 
since  the  first  enactment  of  the  prohibitory  law,  until  now  it 
can  be  said  with  truth  that  there  is  no  equal  number  of  people 
in  the  Anglo-Saxon  world  among  whom  so  small  an  amount 
of  intoxicating  liquor  is  consumed  as  among  the  six  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  of  Maine." 

If  the  absolute  suppression  of  the  liquor-trade  all 
through  our  territory  were  recpiired  to  prove  the 
usefulness  of  Prohil^ition,  it  might  be  said  with 
truth  that  it  is  a  failure.     But  such  a  test  is  applied 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  567 

to  no  other  statute  in  the  criminal  code,  and  there 
is  no  reason  for  its  application  here.  It  may  be 
admitted  that  in  some  places,  most  of  the  time,  and  in 
others,  at  various  times,  the  enforcement  of  the  law 
has  been  lax,  and  that  as  a  consequence  the  traffic, 
in  a  more  or  less  unattractive  form,  has  obtained  a 
foothold  in  such  places.  But  on  the  other  hand,  at 
times  in  substantially  all  of  the  state,  in  a  great  por- 
tion of  it  for  most  of  the  time,  and  in  some  of  it 
for  all  of  the  time,  the  traffic  has  been  practically 
extinct,  while  scarcely  anywhere  for  any  portion  of 
the  time  has  such  of  the  trade  as  has  existed,  been 
conducted  with  the  seductiveness  of  surroundings 
that  gives  to  it  its  greatest  power  for  harm. 

A  magnificent  steamship  is  lying  at  the  wharf. 
What  is  her  purpose?  To  carry  tons  of  valuable 
freight,  worth  many  thousands  of  dollars,  and  hun- 
dreds of  precious  lives  across  the  seas.  She  is 
constructed  to  safely  ride  the  stormiest  waves,  with 
power  sufficient  to  breast  the  fiercest  storms,  but 
she  is  lying  there  idle.  Her  propeller  is  not  mov- 
ing. She  is  a  steamboat,  to  be  sure,  but  some  one 
tells  us  that  she  is  a  failure.  Why?  Because  she 
is  not  moving;  she  is  doing  nothing.  And  persons 
standing  by,  persons  professing  to  desire  that  freight 
and  passengers  shall  be  safely  carried  across  the 
ocean,  and  who  would  gladly  approve  of  steam- 
boats, so  they  say,  if  they  could  do  that,  applaud 
the  man  who  says  she  is  a  failure.  Well,  after  a  time 
the  wheels  begin  to  revolve,  the  ropes  are  cast  off, 

"  She  walks  the  waters  like  a  thing  of  life." 

She  is  no  failure  now,  though  she  is  the  same  steam- 
boat   that   an  hour    ago  was  idle,   denounced    as  a 


568  REMINISCENCES 

failure  by  the  loungers  on  the  wharf.  All  that 
was  necessary  was  an  order  for  the  engineer  to 
move  the  throttle-valve  and  let  on  the  steam. 

If  anywhere  in  Maine  there  has  been  a  failure 
under  Prohibition  to  enjoy  the  advantages  always 
to  be  expected  from  the  absence  of  the  liquor-traffic, 
it  is  due,  not  to  Prohibition,  but  because  some  one 
whose  duty  it  was  to  apply  it  has  failed  so  to  do, 
or,  if  it  is  preferred,  because  the  people  have  not 
insisted  that  only  those  who  could  be  trusted  to 
perform  their  official  duty  should  be  vested  with 
official  power.  There  is  no  more  difficulty  with 
Prohibition  than  in  the  case  of  the  steamboat. 

Here  I  may  properly  close  my  sketch  of  the  temper- 
ance movement  in  Maine.  It  had  reached  a  point  far 
in  advance  of  that  taken  in  the  little  Quaker  meeting- 
house, but  it  had  its  inception  in  the  precepts  and 
examples  of  Dr.  Payson  and  Dr.  Nichols,  who  saw 
and  appreciated  the  dangerous  tendencies  of  the 
habits  and  customs  in  the  midst  of  which  they  lived. 
They  sounded  the  alarm  and  pointed  their  people  to 
the  path  of  safety.  They  believed  that  duty  to  God 
and  love  for  their  fellow-men  demanded  of  them 
antagonism  to  whatever  might  tend  to  the  destruction 
of  the  moral  and  material  interests  of  man,  and  they 
had  the  requisite  conscientiousness  and  courage  to 
adopt  the  course  they  believed  to  be  right.  The 
movement  having  been  inaugurated  by  them,  was 
sustained  and  carried  forward  by  those  who  had 
learned  at  their  feet  that  the  glory  of  God,  the  good 
of  man,  and  the  general  welfare  of  the  state  were 
to  be  promoted  by  it.  If  it  lias  not  accomplished  all 
that  those  men  and  their  coadjutors  hoped,  the  fault 
is  not  to  be  charged  to  them. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  569 

I  am  confident  that  the  people  of  Maine  will  never 
return  to  the  system  of  license  unless  they  shall 
forget  the  lessons  of  experience  and  prefer  to  subor- 
dinate all  their  higher  interests  to  a  traffic  which 
they  have  once  recognized  as  meriting  the  condem- 
nation of  law.  That  surely  will  never  be  if  those 
who  conduct  the  moral,  religious,  educational  and 
charitable  agencies  of  the  state  are  true  to  their  great 
trusts,  and  comprehend  the  nature  of  the  ceaseless 
warfare  waged  by  the  liquor-traffic  upon  all  that  they 
seek  to  promote.  For  them  to  be  silent  and  indiffer- 
ent as  to  that,  is  to  manage  the  work  in  their  charge 
as  imprudently  as  would  a  general  in  command  at  a 
battle,  who,  while  arranging  to  assail  a  detachment 
of  the  enemy,  should  ignore  its  main  body  then 
actually  assaulting  his  own  flank  and  rear. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 


INVITATIOlsr  BY  UNITED   KINGDOM   ALLIANCE   TO  VISIT   GEEAT 
BRITAIN.        EECEPTION     AT     HALIFAX.    .     MY     FIEST 
OCEAN  VOYAGE.       WELCOME   IN   ENGLAND. 
MEETINGS   THERE.       EXPEEIENCES, 
OB8EEVATIONS   AND   IN- 
CIDENTS. 


It  has  been  my  privilege  to  pass  nearly  four  years  in 
Great  Britain.  I  was  there  from  April  to  November 
in  1857,  from  May,  1866,  to  November,  1867,  and  again 
from  April,  1873  to  May,  1875,  a  few  weeks  only  out 
of  each  of  those  periods  being  deducted  for  continen- 
tal sightseeing.  Through  the  kindness  of  many 
friends  and  acquaintances  made  in  all  i)arts  of  Great 
Britain,  I  was  enabled  to  learn  much  that  I  would  not 
otherwise  have  known  of  the  people  of  that  great 
country. 

Each  of  those  visits  was  made  at  the  invitation  of 
the  United  Kingdom  Alliance.  That  great  and  influ- 
ential society  was  formed  in  1853  in  consequence  of 
the  adoption  of  the  Maine  Law,  to  aid  in  obtaining 
similar  legislation  in  Great  Britain.  I  have  been 
informed  that  letters  written  by  me,  in  1852  and  1853, 
to  prominent  and  philantliropic  Englishmen,  anxious 


REMINISCENCES    OF  NEAL  DOAV.  571 

to  improve  conditions  in  their  country,  were  useful  in 
promoting  its  organization.  However  that  may  have 
been,  the  society,  from  its  inception,  has  been  a  pow- 
erful agency  for  good.  The  purpose  of  my  visits  was 
to  explain  to  the  English  people  the  principles  on 
which  the  policy  of  Prohibition  was  founded  and  to 
show  its  results.  I  remember  with  great  satisfaction 
the  assurances  I  received  from  the  executive  officers 
of  the  Alliance,  at  the  close  of  each  of  those  missions, 
that  my  efforts  had  been  productive  of  good,  assur- 
ances accompanied  in  each  instance  Avith  earnest 
requests  to  prolong  my  stay,  and  if  that  could  not  be, 
to  come  again  as  soon  as  practicable.  Indeed,  some 
years  after  my  third  visit  I  was  strongly  urged  to  a 
fourth,  and  the  insistence  that  I  could  again  material- 
ly aid  the  cause  proved  so  strong  a  temptation  that, 
although  more  than  eighty-five  years  of  age,  I  com- 
pleted arrangements  to  go,  even  to  engaging  passage, 
but  I  was  finally  persuaded  by  my  family  that  at  my 
age  it  would  be  the  height  of  imprudence  to  incur  the 
fatigue  and  exposure  incident  to  such  an  undertaking. 

It  is  also  a  source  of  profound  pleasure  to  me  to 
believe  that  the  extensive  personal  acquaintance 
formed  and  the  knowledge  of  the  English  people,  of 
their  opinions,  convictions  and  prejudices,  acquired 
on  my  first  tour,  enabled  me  a  few  years  later  to  help 
to  create  a  public  opinion  in  Great  Britain  which 
proved  very  useful  to  my  country  in  the  great  crisis 
through  which  our  Union  passed  between  my  first  and 
second  English  tours. 

I  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  my  visits  to  Great 
Britain  were  of  interest  to  friends  of  the  cause  in  this 
country,  as  well  as  to  those  across  the  seas.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  American 


572  REMINISCENCES 

Temperance  Union  held  in  New  York,  on  the  28th  of 
February,  prior  to  my  departure  in  April,  1857,  for  my 
first  visit,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted : 

"  Whereas,  our  friend  and  fellow-laborer,  the  Hon.  Neal 
Dow,  is,  by  special  invitation,  about  visiting  Great  Britain 
and  parts  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  for  the  purpose  of  aid- 
ing in  the  curtailment  and  suppression  of  the  traffic  in 
intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage,  l)y  the  power  of  a  rectified 
public  sentiment,  and  suitable  legislative  and  parliamentary 
action  :  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  we  cordially  bid  Mr.  Dow  God-speed  in 
his  important  work,  and  commend  him  to  all  our  friends 
abroad  as  one  dear  to  our  hearts,  and  an  able  and  efficient 
laborer  in  the  great  work  in  which  he  is  engaged." 

The  Journal  of  the  American  Temperance  Union, 
referring  to  my  departure,  said: 

"  He  will  speak  boldly  and  eloquently,  declaring  the  truth. 
He  is  not  a  noisy  and  loose  declaimer.  But  while  he  is  a 
man  of  order,  he  is  a  man  of  correct  statistics  and  useful 
facts.  He  speaks  like  a  man  of  business  rather  than  the 
studied  orator,  and  will,  therefore,  as  does  Richard  Cobden, 
please  the  English  people.  He  goes  over  at  a  favorable  time, 
when  there  is  in  almost  every  town,  a  warm  discussion  going 
on,  relative  to  the  Maine  Law." 

At  a  public  meeting  held  in  the  Second  Parish 
church,  of  Portland,  a  few  days  prior  to  my  depart- 
ure, an  address  to  the  friends  of  Prohibition  in  Great 
Britain  was  adopted.  This  was  suggested  because  at 
the  time  of  my  first  visit  the  policy  of  Prohibition, 
which  I  was  proposing  to  advocate  before  the  British 
pu])lic,  was  not  existing  in  the  statutes  of  Maine, 
having  been  stricken  out  as  elsewhere  related  by  the 
legislature  elected  in  the  reaction  of  1855.  Among 
other  tilings,  that  address  said : 

"  AVe  have  been  cast  down,  but  we  are  not  destroyed. 
Though  we  were  defeated  in  1855,  and  are  still  waiting  for 
the  restoration  of  the  Maine  Law,  we  are  not  disheartened; 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  573 

we  are  confident  that  we  do  not  wait  in  vain.  Under  our 
form  of  government  the  public  will  will  be  sure  to  embody 
itself  in  law,  but  this  is  not  done  without  a  struggle,  and 
while  that  struggle  lasts,  the  friends  of  any  cause,  however 
noble  or  however  strong  they  may  be  in  numbers,  are  liable 

to    reverses.     So    it   has    been  with  us The  friends   of 

Prohibition  have  an  unquestioned  majority  in  our  state,  and 
the  day  of  triumph  hastens  on.  Within  another  year  Maine 
will  take  her  place  again  among  her  old  associates  and  re- 
assert her  claim  to  take  the  lead  in  this  glorious  reform.  The 
restoration  of  the  Maine  Law  is  sure. 

"  We  send  this  message  by  our  fellow-citizen  and  co- 
laborer  in  this  cause,  Hon.  Neal  Dow,  with  whose  name  you 
are  already  familiar.  By  his  constant  and  lifelong  devotion, 
his  inflexibility  of  purpose,  and  his  untiring  energy  and  perse- 
verance, he  has  given  new  power  to  this  great  and  beneficent 
movement  by  which  unnuml^ered  blessings  have  come  upon 
our  common  country,  our  state,  and  the  city  where  we  dwell ; 
and  with  full  hearts  we  commend  him  and  his  labors  to  the 
friends  of  Prohibition  in  other  lands." 

Upon  my  arrival  at  Halifax,  I  was  welcomed  by 
several  friends  who  took  me  to  a  public  hall, 
where  in  the  presence  of  many  people  assembled  to 
greet  me,  I  was  presented  with  the  following  address: 

"We,  the  Deputy  Grand  Worthy  Patriarch  and  Grand 
Scribe,  in  behalf  of  the  order  of  Sons  of  Temperance  and 
kindred  organizations  in  Halifax,  embrace  the  opportunity 
afforded  by  the  short  delay  of  the  English  steamer,  to  bid 
you  welcome,  and  assure  you  of  our  high  respect  and  esteem. 

"Interested  as  we  are  in  the  progress  of  a  moral  reform 
which  we  consider  essential  to  the  well-being  of  society,  we 
deem  it  our  duty  and  our  privilege  to  honor  those,  who,  by 
their  zeal,  their  ability,  and  their  constancy  in  the  promotion 
of  that  great  reform,  have  entitled  themselves  to  a  prominent 
place  among  the  benefactors  of  mankind.  We  believe  that 
rumor  has  not  misled  us  in  ascribing  to  you  the  possession  of 
those  qualities  of  leadership,  which  are  required  to  give 
compactness,  direction,  and  stability  to  every  important 
enterprise,  and  we  cheerfully  accord  to  you  the  same  position 
in  the  public  mind  of  our  countrymen  which  you  occupy  in  the 
estimation  of  your  own.     The  geographical  lines  which  divide 


574  REMINISCENCES 

us  into  communities,  living  under  different  forms  of  political 
o-overnment,  we  hold  to  be  but  accidental  or  conventional 
arrangements,  which  disappear  m  the  contemplation  of  a 
sentiment  of  universal  brotherhood. 

"  We  are  aware  that  diversity  of  opinion  exists,  even 
among  conscientious  persons,  respecting  the  expediency  of 
prohibitory  enactments  for  the  suppression  of  the  traffic  in 
intoxicating  liquors ;  but  the  world  has  not  failed  to  recog- 
nize, and  to  acknowledge,  in  the  legislation  of  the  state  of 
Maine,  a  signal  example  of  magnanimous  purpose,  supported 
with  determination  of  spirit,  and  elevated  by  purity  of  motive. 
Temporary  ol^structions  have  hitherto  prevented  the  full  reali- 
zation of  all  that  the  Maine  Law  was  intended  to  accomplish, 
but  this  fact,  which  might  have  been  anticipated,  cannot 
tarnish  the  glory  of  the  endeavor,  nor  does  it,  in  our  judg- 
ment, invalidate  the  soundness  of  the  principles  upon  which 
the  law  was  based. 

"We  trust  that  in  the  great  country  which  you  are  about 
visiting,  and  of  which  we  form  an  humble  appendage,  your 
exertion  in  behalf  of  the  temperance  movement,  may  be 
eminently  successful  in  stimulating  the  work  already  begun 
by  the  people  themselves,  and  that  in  conjunction  with  the 
labors  of  Mr.  Gough,  and  others  who  have  preceded  you, 
such  a  moral  revolution  may  be  effected  in  the  islands  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  as  shall  result  in  lessening  the 
woes,  and  increasing  the  happiness  of  the  whole  human  race. 

"  In  conclusion,  allow  us  to  wish  you  most  sincerely,  a 
speedy  and  pleasant  passage  across  the  mighty  deep,  and  a 
safe  return  to  your  family  and  friends." 

"  Signed,  in  behalf  of  the  Order  of  Sons  of  Temperance, 
Halifax,  Nova   Scotia, 

"  John  Shean,  D.  G.  W.  P. 
"  Patrick  Monaghan,  G.  S. 

"9th  April,  1857." 

Then  forming  a  procession  the  assembly  escorted 
me  to  the  steamer,  and  speeded  me  on  my  way  by 
three  hearty  British  cheers. 

Just  as  our  ship  moved  from  the  wharf,  there  was  a 
startling  illustration  of  the  evil  of  intemperance.  A 
man  who  had  been  ashore  came  on  board  much  under 
the  influence    of    liquor,   and    as    the    officers    were 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  575 

attempting  to  put  him  under  restraint  he  jumped 
overboard.  He  apparently  knew  how  to  swim,  and 
had  he  been  sober  might  easily  have  been  saved. 
Life-preservers  Avere  thrown  to  liim,  but  he  was  too 
badly  intoxicated  to  avail  himself  of  them.  An 
officer  with  a  line  attached  jumped  over  to  save  him, 
but  the  poor  fellow,  being  unable  to  assist  himself, 
sank  before  he  could  be  reached. 

Pleasant  acquaintances  were  made  among  the  pas- 
sengers, some  of  whom  introduced  themselves  as 
having  met  me  at  meetings  I  had  addressed.  Others 
who  said  they  had  heard  of  me  sought  my  acquaint- 
ance, and  altogether  I  found  myself  most  pleasantly 
situated.  Though  I  never  introduced  the  topic, 
owing  probably  to  my  presence,  there  was  much 
conversation  at  meals  during  the  first  few  days 
about  "abstinence,"  and  "moderate"  and  "exces- 
sive" drinking.  Besides  myself  there  were  three 
Americans  who  did  not  take  wine.  After  the  second 
day  my  vis-a-vis^  a  gentleman  from  London,  Canada, 
declined  it,  while  later  one  from  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
said  that  he  would  abandon  its  use. 

Some  gentlemen  calling  themselves  men  of  the 
world,  with  little  time  or  inclination  for  interest 
in  reform,  would  occasionally  insist  that  temperance 
could  be  better  served  by  moderate  drinking,  such 
as  they  indulged  in,  than  by  total  abstinence.  They 
were  always  very  jovial  about  it,  and  would  now  and 
then  ask  me  if  so  much,  naming  a  quantity  they  had 
taken,  was  "too  much."  I  imagine  none  of  them 
profited  by  the  advice  they  sought.  However,  on  the 
last  day  of  the  voyage  a  passenger  told  me  that  he  had 
been  many  times  across  the  Atlantic  and  had  never 
before  seen  so  little  drinking  on  shipboard. 


576  REMINISCENCES 

To  one  who,  like  myself,  had  never  made  a  wager  of 
any  kind,  the  constant  betting  resorted  to  by  some  to 
kill  time  was  a  marvel.  The  stakes  were  generally 
small,  and  related  to  every  conceivable  coming  event, 
from  the  number  of  miles  to  be  run  in  a  day,  to  which 
drop  of  spray  would  first  reach  the  bottom  as  it  ran 
down  a  window.  Lotteries  too,  were  devised,  and 
almost  every  one  was  solicited  to  take  tickets.  I 
thouglit  it  worthy  of  note  in  a  letter  written  home  at 
the  close  of  the  voyage  that  not  only  was  I  not  invited 
to  drink,  but  was  not  challenged  to  bet,  nor  asked  to 
buy  a  ticket  in  any  of  the  numerous  lotteries.  Yet 
I  was  on  the  best  of  terms  with  all  the  passengers, 
not  one  of  whom,  so  far  as  I  could  judge,  thought  me 
unapproachable,  uncompanionable  or  unsociable.  I 
mention  this  now  in  the  hope  that  some  young  man  or 
woman  may  read  in  it  the  truth  that  one  is  never 
obliged,  in  whatever  surroundings,  to  prove  false  to 
convictions  or  to  adopt  customs  that  may  be  question- 
able that  they  may  be  able  to  keep  on  terms  with  desir- 
able companions. 

At  dinner,  as  our  voyage  terminated,  complying  with 
their  request  to  me  in  a  note  signed  by  a  number  of 
passengers,  I  thanked  Captain  Leitch  of  our  steamer 
for  his  kindness  and  attention,  for  the  admirable 
discipline  he  had  maintained,  and  the  seamanship 
he  had  displayed.  Then  six  Scotch  gentlemen  sprang 
up,  and,  each  with  one  foot  upon  his  chair  and  the 
other  on  the  table,  sang  a  Scotch  song,  shouting  a 
hearty  good-bye  to  the  passengers,  greatly  to  the 
entertainment  of  the  company.  An  American  gentle- 
man then  proposed  the  health  of  the  queen,  and  an 
Englishman  proposed  mine,  a  Scotch  army  surgeon 
adding,  "To  be  drunk  in  water. "    This  was  done,  all 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  577 

standing,  with  great  enthusiasm,  and  in  admirable 
spirits,  though  it  was  probably  the  first  time  that 
most  of  them  had  thus  honored  a  toast. 

Arriving  at  Liverpool,  Mr.  Samuel  Pope,  the  hon- 
orary secretary  of  the  United  Kingdom  Alliance, 
accompanied  by  several  other  friends  of  temperance, 
boarded  our  steamer  and  gave  me  a  most  gracious 
reception.  Upon  landing,  they  conducted  me  to  a 
hotel  where  I  met  representatives  from  Liverpool, 
Manchester,  Bolton,  and  other  cities,  who  had  kindly 
come  to  greet  me.  There  I  was  welcomed  formally  in 
behalf  of  the  United  Kingdom  Alliance  by  Mr.  Pope, 
after  which  there  was  a  public  dinner.  That  over, 
I  was  introduced,  and  made  my  first  speech  upon 
English  soil. 

Nearly  twenty  years  elapsed  between  my  first  and 
last  visits  to  England,  while  now  more  than  thirty 
years  have  passed  since,  in  April,  1857,  I  embarked 
at  Boston  on  the  Cunard  steamer  Europa  for  that 
country.  Consequently,  in  endeavoring  to  give  some 
account  of  my  experiences  and  observations  in  Great 
Britain,  it  will  be  convenient  to  pay  little  regard  to 
their  order  as  to  time. 

My  reception  at  Liverpool  gave  me  an  opportunity 
to  meet  some  of  the  most  devoted  friends  of  the 
cause  in  Great  Britain.  With  several  of  these  it 
was  my  great  good  fortune  to  be  associated  closely 
for  some  time,  forming  strong  and  lasting  friend- 
ships, ever  most  highly  prized  by  me. 

Among  these,  mentioning  only  the  officials  of  the 
Alliance,  were  Samuel  Pope,  Esq.,  and  Mr.  Tliomas 
H.  Barker.  Mr.  Pope  and  I  had  had  correspondence, 
not  only  with  reference  to  the  movement  in  which 
we  were  both  interested,  but  bearing  specially  upon 


578  REMINISCENCES 

my  contemplated  vi^it  to  Great  Britain.     He  was  an 
able    and    effective    speaker,   and    a  most    agreeable 
gentleman.      His  constant  kindness  added  much  to 
my  comfort,  and  to  liim  I  was  greatly  indebted  for 
any  aid  my  visit  afforded  the  society  he  represented. 
The  people  of  this  country  have  strong  reason  to 
be    thankful    to    Mr.    Pope   for  great  services    at    a 
time  when  the  slightest  assistance  of  the  kind  was  of 
importance.       At  a  critical    period  during  our  war 
for    the    Union    when    there  was   imminent    danger 
that  the  government  of  Great  Britain  would  recog- 
nize   the    Southern    Confederacy  —  and    there    were 
many  who  believed  that  it  would    be  done  within 
twenty-four  hours  —  Mr.  Pope  was  active  and  influ- 
ential   in    arranging    for    a    public    expression    in 
opposition    to  such  action.       The  first   step  in  this 
direction  was  an    immense    public    meeting    in    St. 
James'  Hall  in  London,  at  which  he  made  the  first 
speech,   and  was  followed  by  John  Bright.      That, 
I  think,  was  the  first  public  utterance  in  all  England 
in  favor  of  our  Union.     This  meeting  was  so  great  and 
enthusiastic  that  the  British  government  delayed  its 
contemplated  action,  and  many  great  meetings  soon 
afterwards  held  in  the  large  cities  developed  a  strong 
public  sentiment  against  the  Confederacy  and  in  favor 
of    the  Union,   and  the    great  danger  was  averted. 
Mr.  Pope  took  a  very   prominent  part  in  this  move- 
ment, speaking  at  many  of  those  meetings  and  largely 
giving  up  his  time  to  the  work.     I  am  glad  to  be  able 
to  say,  also,  that  the  more  earnest  temperance  men 
throughout    the   United    Kingdom  were  among    the 
most  active  and   prominent  in  favor  of  the  mainte- 
nance of  our  Union.  , 

Mr.    Thomas    H.    Barker,    the    indefatigable    and 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  571) 

efficient  secretary  of  the  Alliance,  was  of  invaluable 
aid  to  me  during  all  the  time  I  spent  in  Great  Britain. 
Between  him  and  myself  Avarm  friendship  and  close 
intimacy  were  developed.  Through  his  frequent  and 
valued  letters  I  have  been  informed  not  alone  of 
the  progress  of  the  work  of  the  Alliance  in  Great 
Britain,  but  of  the  general  trend  of  politics  and 
public  affairs,  of  which  he  was  naturally  a  keen 
observer,  and  which  by  the  demands  of  his  position 
in  the  Alliance,  he  was  impelled  to  watch  closely. 

Some  friends  of  the  Alliance  movement  who  had 
been  invited  were  unable  to  be  present  at  my  recep- 
tion in  Liverpool  and  sent  letters  of  regret.  One  of 
these,  as  it  was  read,  was  passed  to  me,  and  is  before 
me  at  this  writing.  It  was  from  the  Earl  of  Harring- 
ton, and  ran  as  follows: 

"  Elvaston  Castle,  Derby,  16th  April. 
"  My  Dear  Sir  :  — I  deeply  reiri'et  that  important  business 
will  prevent  my  having  the  pleasure  of  l)ein<i;  ]>rescnt  at  the 
reception  of  Neal  Dow  on  his  landing  in  Liverpool.  He 
stands  next  to  Washington  as  the  great  benefactor  of  Ameri- 
ca and  the  world,  and  we  hail  his  presence  in  England  with 
gratitude  and  pride.  Most  truly  yours, 

Harrington." 

A  few  days  after,  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  the 

guest  of  the  Earl  of  Harrington  at  his  magnificent 

seat  at  Derby.     He  had  become  much  impressed  with 

Prohibition,  and  two  years  previous  to  my  visit  had 

entertained  an  immense  gathering  on  his  grounds  in 

honor  of  the  Maine  Law.     The  spot  was  marked  by  a 

block  of  granite,  with  the  following  inscription: 

"  On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1855,  ten  thousand  people  assem- 
bled here  to  congratulate  the  Americans  on  the  passage  of  the 
Maine  Law  in  their  Empire  state.  An  American  and  an 
English  oak  were  planted  to  connnemorate  the  event,  so 
important  to  the  world." 


580  REMINISCENCES 

Another  letter  placed  in  my  hands  at  the  Liverpool 

reception  was  from  Sir  Walter  C.   Trevelyan.      He 

wrote: 

"  I  regret  that  it  is  out  of  my  power  to  have  the  honor  of 
o-reeting  you  on  your  arrival  in  Liverpool ;  but  not  being 
able  to  do  so  personally,  I  trust  you  will  kindly  accept  my 
congratulations  on  your  safe  arrival.  Looking  upon  your 
kindness  in  coming  to  this  country  as  opening  to  us  a  bright 
prospect  in  the  advance  of  the  good  cause  in  which  you  have 
so  long,  so  zealously,  and  so  successfully  labored  among  our 
brethren  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  trusting  that 
I  may,  before  long,  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  of  becom- 
ing personally  acquainted  with  you,  I  remain,  dear  sir,  yours 
very  faithfully,  W.  C.  Trevelyan." 

Sir  Walter  C.  Trevelyan  was  a  lifelong  temperance 
man,  and  was  president  of  the  Alliance.  It  was  my 
pleasure  to  experience  many  kindnesses  from  him,  as 
his  guest,  and  in  other  ways. 

Dr.  F.  E.  Lees  also  wrote  me: 

"  I  regret  that  engagements  will  not  permit  me  to  welcome 
you  to  the  shores  of  the  old  country  in  person,  but  I  beg  to 
assure  you  that  my  heart  is  with  you,  and  my  prayers  for 
your  work  of  faith  and  labor  of  love.  I  hope  to  meet  you  in 
Manchester  next  week,  but  in  the  meantime  cannot  refrain 
from  expressing  my  joy  at  your  arrival  amongst  us,  and  giv- 
ing you  a  hearty  British  welcome." 

Dr.  Lees  was  one  of  the  first  to  give  earnest  and 
powerful  support  to  the  movement  in  Great  Britain 
inaugurated  by  the  Alliance  for  the  immediate  total 
prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic.  He  had  l^een  from 
early  youth  a  teetotaler,  and  for  many  years  had 
employed  himself  in  teaching  the  public  that  alcohol 
was  always  and  everywliere  a  poison,  and  in  whatever 
quantity  taken  was  a  mischief  to  persons  in  health. 
Of  course  this  teaching  was  received  with  incredulity, 
and  ridiculed  by  many  of  the  more  prominent  men  in 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  581 

the  country,  and  so  Dr.  Lees  was  driven  to  fortify  his 
opinions  and  convictions  by  a  careful  study  of  the 
physiological  effects  of  that  particular  poison  upon 
the  human  system.  In  this  special  line  of  temperance 
teaching,  he  ^Yas  among  the  first.  The  books  and 
essays  written  by  him  upon  this  subject  in  the  earlier 
days  of  the  temperance  agitation  were  thorough  and 
exhaustive,  and  nothing  better  or  more  important  has 
been  since  contributed  to  the  temperance  movement 
by  any  of  the  able  men  who  have  labored  in  the  same 
line. 

Dr.  Lees*  was  my  frequent  traveling  companion  in 
my  visits  to  Great  Britain  and  on  the  continent,  and 
we  often  spoke  from  the  same  platform.  He  was  an 
admirable  speaker,  terse  and  logical.  Thoroughly  in- 
/formed  upon  every  phase  of  the  temperance  question, 
scientific,  moral  and  political,  he  was  able  to  render 
most  valuable  service  to  it.  As  a  traveling  compan- 
ion he  was  most  entertaining  and  instructive.  He 
knew  every  old  abbey,  castle,  rock,  and  field,  with  a 
history  or  tradition,  in  the  United  Kindom,  and  as  we 
visited  many  of  these  together  I  heard  much  from  him 
not  recorded  in  books.  It  has  been  my  pleasure  to 
entertain  him  in  Portland,  and  we  have  been  friends 
and  correspondents  from  our  first  introduction. 

In  addition  to  the  pleasure  derived  from  my  inter- 
course with  our  friends  at  the  Liverpool  reception,  I 
was  enabled  to  get  an  idea  of  the  situation  of  the 
temperance  cause  in  Great  Britain.  I  learned  that, 
though  many  clergymen  were  taking  an  active  inter- 
est in  it,  some  of  them  had  not  yet  come  to  regard  it 
as  incumbent  upon  them  to  set  the  example  of  total 
abstinence  to  the  parishes  in  their  charge,  though  it 
*  Dr.  Lees  died  but  a  few  months  before  General  Dow. 

38 


582  REMINISCENCES 

was  true  that  some  of  these  latter  were  active  in  doing 
what  they  could  to  correct  intemperate  habits.  I  met 
one,  a  clergyman  of  independent  fortune,  whose  love 
for  God  and  man  had  led  him  to  the  clerical  profes- 
sion solely  for  the  good  he  could  do.  He  needed  and 
received  no  pecuniary  compensation  for  his  labors  in 
that  calling. 

His  warm  heart  had  been  touched  by  the  misery 
about  him  traceable  to  drink,  and  he  therefore  pre- 
pared and  circulated  a  pledge,  but  without  much 
success,  as  he  regretfully  admitted  to  me.  He  was 
then  asked:  "Are  you  a  total  abstainer  yourself?" 
"No,"  he  replied,  "I  see  no  necessity  in  my  case." 
' '  Would  not  your  influence  be  greater  among  these 
poor  people,  in  whom  you  are  so  much  interested, 
if  you  should  be  able  to  say,  '  Come, '  instead  of  '  Go  ? ' " 
"I  never  thought  of  that;  I  will  consider  it."  He 
shortly  after  abandoned  the  use  of  wine  altogether, 
and  was  delighted  with  the  result,  he  afterwards  said. 
That  little  sacrifice  enabled  him  to  do  vastly  more 
good  in  his  chosen  line. 

It  must  be  a  comforting  reflection  to  any  person 
that  through  subordination  of  a  cherished  comfort  or 
desire  he  has  been  able  to  contribute  to  the  temporal 
and  eternal  welfare  of  his  fellows.  The  experience  of 
that  wealthy  clergyman  we  may  all  study  to  our  own 
good  and  to  the  advantage  of  those  about  us. 

My  first  great  meeting  was  to  be  in  Free  Trade  Hall, 
at  Manchester.  I  had  heard  of  that  as  the  largest 
auditorium  in  the  Kingdom,  with  a  capacity  for  seven 
thousand,  and  I  was  somewhat  nervous.  I  had  been 
informed  that  the  meeting  would  be  widely  reported, 
and  would  be  influential  by  reason  of  the  size  and 
character  of  the  audience;  that  some  would  be  there 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  583 

who  had  not  favored  the  object  of  the  Alliance,  and 
whose  future  position  with  reference  to  it  might 
depend  upon  what  I  should  say,  and  that  knowledge 
did  not  tend  to  relieve  my  anxiety. 

Often  afterwards  it  was  my  privilege  to  speak  in 
Free  Trade  Hall,  but  at  the  time  of  my  first  meeting 
there  I  had  never  seen  so  large  an  indoor  audience  as 
that  which  I  then  faced.  It  was  a  magnificent  sight. 
I  had  been  accustomed  to  great  meetings,  and  had 
seen  some  outdoor  gatherings  larger  than  this.  I  had 
before  been  kindly  received  by  large  audiences,  but 
no  other  welcome  was  so  imposing  in  appearance  as 
that  which  greeted  me  at  this,  my  first  great  meeting 
in  England.  The  press  of  the  country  was  extensive- 
ly represented,  reporters  being  present,  I  was  told,  for 
many  of  the  more  influential  journals.  Most  of  them 
referred  to  my  reception  as  enthusiastic.  I  quote 
from  one  at  hand : 

"  At  the  time  we  go  to  press,  Mr.  Dow  has  only  addressed 
one  meeting,  and  that  a  monster  one  at  Free  Trade  Hall, 
Manchester.  His  reception  on  that  occasion  was  not  merely 
enthusiastic,  it  was  rapturous,  and  many  times  intensified 
above  what  we  are  accustomed  to  witness  on  the  most  stirring 
occasions.  It  was  not  mere  hero-worship,  and  matter-of- 
course  laudation ;  it  was  the  sincerest  and  warmest  homage 
which  the  heart  and  judgment  combined  could  render  to 
unselfish,  courageous  virtue  and  high-souled  patriotism." 

A  glance  at  what  was  said  and  done  at  this  meeting- 
may  afford  as  good  a  view  of  the  situation  of  the 
temperance  cause  in  Great  Britain  as  could  otherwise 
be  obtained.  Sir  Walter  C.  Trevelyan  presided,  and 
upon  the  platform  beside  him  were  Mr.  Pope,  Mr. 
James  Simpson,  Rev.  Francis  Bishop,  Dr.  Lees,  Rev. 
Mr.  Steinthal,  Mr.  Salisbury,  member  of  parliament 
for  Chester,  Mr.  Thomas  Clegg,  Mr.  Alderman  Har- 


584  REMINISCENCES 

vey,  and  others.  The  presiding  officer,  in  his  open- 
ing remarks,  after  some  complimentary  allusions 
to  me,  referred  to  conditions  existing  in  Great 
Britain,  and  questioned  its  right  to  be  called  a 
civilized  and  Christian  country  while  it  was  profit- 
ing from  a  traffic  the  fruits  of  which  were  criminals, 
paupers,  and  lunatics,  and  which  cost  more  than  a 
waste  of  the  capital  which  might  be  employed  in 
remunerating  labor  instead  of  being  destructive  to 
the  community;  and  he  denounced  the  liquor-traffic 
as  one  of  the  greatest  impediments  to  reform,  moral, 
political,  or  social,  and  as  preventing  the  spread  of 
education  and  religion,  and  as  obstructing  greatly 
the  labors  of  schoolmasters,  clergymen  and  philan- 
thropists. He  insisted  that  when,  and  not  until,  the 
laws  were  so  changed  as  to  seek  the  removal  of  that 
evil,  could  the  country  be  called  in  truth  civilized  or 
Christian, 

Following  the  remarks  of  the  chair,  Mr.  Alderman 
Harvey,  in  behalf  of  the  gathering  presented  me  with 
an  address  as  follows: 

''Honored  and  Dear  Sir: — 

"Permit  us  to  assure  you  that  our  presence  here  to-night,  is 
not  due  to  a  mere  idle  feeling  of  curiosity  —  a  mere  desire  to 
see  and  hear  an  illustrious  stranger.  We  are  here  to  extend 
to  you  a  frank,  cordial,  and  enthusiastic  British  welcome. 
Your  name  being  pre-eminently  associated  with  the  effort 
made  by  our  brethren  in  America  to  solve  the  greatest  social 
problem  of  modern  times,  we  w^elcome  you  as  one  of  the  most 
philanthropic  statesmen  of  your  great  republic.  The  names 
of  Washington,  Franklin,  and  their  illustrious  co-patriots, 
are  now  venerated  l)y  the  whole  civilized  world,  as  the  cham- 
pions of  political  freedom.  So,  we  believe,  will  future 
generations  revere  your  memory  as  the  exponent  of  social 
virtue,  and  cherish  the  recollection  of  your  laborious  efforts 
to  dry  up  the  chief  source  of  national  degradation  and  ruin, 
Not    only   do   we    welcome   you  from  a  feeling  of  personal 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  585 

aflfection,  but  we  regard  your  presence  in  England  at  this 
time  as  extremely  opportune.  It  will  not  be  unknown  to  you 
that  the  efforts  of  the  friends  of  Prohibition  in  this  country 
have  been  met  by  statements  —  circulated  sometimes  by 
incautious  and  timid  friends,  but  more  frequently  ))y  inter- 
ested opponents  —  tending  to  throw  discredit  upon  yourself 
and  the  progress  of  the  cause  in  the  United  States.  We  are 
firmly  convinced  that  nothing  is  needed  but  full  and  authentic 
information  entirely  to  dispel  all  such  impressions. 

"  We  are  aware  that  peculiar  difficulties  attend  the  legisla- 
tive development  in  the  United  States  of  America.  We  are 
astonished  at  the  courage  with  which  these  have  generally 
been  attacked,  and  at  the  measure  of  success  that  has  already 
been  achieved.  We  are  not  surprised  by  occasional  reverses. 
Deeply  rooted  social  habits  cannot  be  extirpated  in  a  day. 
All  this  is  familiar  to  us  ;  but  every  class  of  politicians,  every 
social  reformer,  and  inquirer  in  this  country  will  listen  to 
your  words  as  of  one  qualified  to  speak  with  authority,  and 
for  whose  testimony  can  be  claimed  a  most  complete  public 
confidence  and  credit.  We  therefore  again  bid  you  welcome 
to  this  country,  and  assure  you  that  a  cordial  greeting  awaits 
you  during  your  contemplated  tour  which  we  venture  to 
expect  will  prove  as  interesting  and  gratifying  to  yourself 
as  it  will  certainly  be  beneficial  to  our  cause." 

Having  read  the  address,  Mr.  Harvey  moved  its 
adoption,  which  motion  was  seconded  by  James 
Simpson,  and  upon  the  motion  being  put  to  the 
meeting,  it  was  passed  amid  great  enthusiasm.  The 
presentation  to  me  of  the  scroll  containing  the 
address  was  accompanied  by  loud  cheering,  the 
entire  audience  standing.  My  reception  upon  my 
rising  to  speak  was  gratifying  in  the  extreme,  as  it 
testified  to  the  great  interest  of  the  vast  audience 
in  the  subject  I  was  to  present.  At  the  close  of 
my  speech,  Mr.  Salisbury,  M.  P.  for  Chester,  moved: 

'  "That  this  meeting,  having  heard  the  explicit  and  encour- 
aging statement  of  the  Hon.Neal  Dow,  desires  to  record  its 
conviction,  not  only  that  the  prohibition  of  the  liquor-trafiic 
is  a  sound  political  principle,  but  that  its  development  into 


586  EEMINISCENCES 

practical  leoislation  in  America  is  a  great  and  operative  fact ; 
and  that  this  meeting,  not  merely  encouraged,  but  stirred 
with  a  feeling  of  emulation,  would  urge  the  friends  of  the 
Alliance  in  every  part  of  the  country  to  relax  no  effort,  and 
accept  no  compromise  until  they  have  registered  a  law  of 
prohibition  on  the  statute-books  of  this  kingdom." 

And  tills,  upon  being  seconded  by  Mr.  Pope,  was 
unanimously  carried. 

On  the  occasion  of  my  second  visit  to  England 
in  1866,  I  was  again  welcomed  in  Free  Trade  Hall. 
The  weather  was  most  unpropitious.  It  was  rainy, 
and  the  traveling  was  so  wet,  dirty  and  generally^ 
unfavorable  that  it  was  anticipated  that  the  meeting 
would  be  a  failure  in  point  of  numbers.  But  to 
my  great  surprise  the  hall  was  exceedingly  crowded, 
every  seat  occupied,  while  hundreds  were  standing. 
At  this  meeting  fifty-five  formal  addresses  from  as 
many  different  temperance  societies  in  England, 
Scotland,  and  Wales  were  presented  to  me,  many 
of  them  being  most  elegantly  engrossed  on  parch- 
ment, while  some  were  printed  on  satin.  Time  did 
not  suffice  for  the  reading  of  all  of  them,  and  after 
the  audience  had  listened  to  six  the  remainder  were 
presented  each  in  turn  by  the  several  delegations, 
without  reading.  Each  representation  while  offering 
its  address  stood  upon  the  platform  and  remained 
there  until  the  ceremony  of  presenting  them  all  was 
completed. 

It  will  be  impracticable  for  me  to  attempt  to  cover 
in  detail  my  meetings  in  Great  Britain.  I  met  the 
people  in  gatherings,  large  and  small,  in  most  of  the 
important  towns  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Many  of 
the  meetings  were  of  a  character  to  call  together  rep- 
resentative men  from  different  parts  of  Great  Britain; 
some  were  confined  to  those  specially  invited  to  com- 


or   NEAL   DOW.  587 

paratively  select  neighborhood  or  local  gatherings, 
where  the  speaking  was  altogether  conversational, 
while  others  were  held  in  some  of  the  greatest  and 
grandest  auditoriums  in  existence,  thronged  with 
thousands  of  the  laboring  men  of  that  great  work- 
shop of  the  world. 

Though  everything  possible  was  done  for  my  com- 
fort by  the  executive  of  the  Alliance,  and  the  kind 
friends  whose  guest  I  was,  at  times  I  found  the  fre- 
quent speaking,  with  the  intervening  travel,  weary- 
ing in  the  extreme,  but  was  helped  through  my 
labors  by  frequent  assurances  that  popular  attention 
was  being  aroused  and  a  healthy  public  sentiment 
created. 

While  many  of  my  audiences  were  large,  perhaps 
the  more  prc^table  occasions  were  those,  compar- 
atively few  in  number,  which  were  especially  designed 
as  opportunities  for  interesting  influential  persons  in 
the  movement.  These  were  often  in  the  form  of 
breakfasts,  dinners,  soirees,  where  those  invited  gen- 
erally included  ofiicials  and  clergymen,  as  well  as  others 
occupying  positions  of  responsibility  and  power,  who 
had  not  identified  themselves  with  the  movement,  and 
who  in  many  instances  were  inclined  to  be  skeptical 
about  the  usefulness  of  it. 

My  arrival  at  some  places  was  preceded  by  notes 
sent  sometimes  in  the  name  of  him  who  was  to  be 
my  host,  sometimes  by  a  committee,  to  persons  in 
the  neighborhood  who  it  was  thought  would  be 
interested  in  the  subject,  inviting  them  to  meet  me. 
The  opportunity  for  sociability  thus  afforded  enabled 
me  to  make  many  agreeable  and  valuable  personal 
acquaintances,  and  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the 
English  people. 


588  KEMINISCENCES 

The  first  of  these  gatherings  was  held  in  Man- 
chester, a  day  or  two  after  my  great  meeting  there. 
Sir  Walter  C.  Trevelyan  was  again  in  the  chair, 
nearly  one  hundred  ladies  and  gentlemen  being 
present.  On  this  occasion  what  I  had  to  say  \>a8 
in  the  form  of  a  speech,  after  which  many  questions 
were  asked,  indicating  in  some  cases  more  or  less 
lack  of  sympathy  with  Prohibition,  but  all  were 
preferred  in  a  most  courteous  manner,  manifesting 
a  sincere  desire  for  information.  At  most  of  these 
smaller  meetings,  however,  the  speaking  was  entirely 
conversational,  and  I  confined  myself  to  answering 
such  questions  as  were  suggested  by  the  sympathy, 
curiosity  or  opposition  of  the  inquirers.  I  am  grati- 
fied to  know  that  the  executive  of  the  Alliance 
believed  these  meetings  fruitful  of  good. 

At  the  time  of  my  first  visit,  the  Maine  Law  had 
been  repealed,  and  Maine  was  under  the  license  law 
which  supplanted  Prohibition  for  two  years.  That 
point  was  made  much  of  in  these  conversational 
meetings  by  those  who  did  not  understand  the  circum- 
stances leading  up  to  the  repeal,  and  who  honestly 
believed  in  some  instances  that  the  revolt  against 
that  policy  had  been  taken  in  the  interest  of  a 
genuine  temperance  reformation.  Though  the  law 
had  not  been  re-enacted,  the  Republican  party,  com- 
mitted to  Prohibition,  had  recovered  political  control 
of  Maine,  and  it  was  understood  that  the  next  legis- 
lature to  be  elected  would  repudiate  license. 

Another  subject  for  frequent  inquiry  was  whether 
it  would  be  proper  to  provide  for  the  compensation  of 
liquor-dealers  who  should  be  driven  out  of  business 
by  Prohibition.  I  had  little  difficulty  in  satisfying 
myself,  at  least,  and  generally,  I  believe,  my  hearers. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  589 

that  mon  who  invested  their  capital  in  a  business 
injurious  to  the  public  good  did  so  at  their  own  risk, 
and  no  people  could  rightfully  be  called  upon  to 
compensate  those  conri^elled  to  desist  from  inflicting 
injury  upon  the  commonwealth. 

One  of  the  most  important  meetings  I  attended 
was  a  conference  of  ministers,  held  in  Manchester, 
to  consider  the  suppression  of  the  liquor-traffic. 
The  call  was  signed  by  a  large  number  of  ministers, 
representing  almost  every  denomination,  inviting  the 
clergy  generally  to  attend.  I  was  asked  to  address 
the  conference  at  a  great  meeting  under  its  auspices 
in  the  Manchester  Free  Trade  Hall. 

It  was  my  good  fortune,  also,  to  have  opportunities 
to  meet  many  clergymen  in  smaller  gatherings,  in 
some  cases  confined  almost  exclusively  to  them, 
there  being  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty  of  them  at  some 
private  house  assembled  to  meet  me  and  talk  upon 
temperance.  Prohibition,  and  the  Maine  Law.  I  can 
recall  the  names  of  three  clergymen  in  Great  Britain 
who  assured  me  that  they  were  led  to  become  total 
abstainers  because  of  what  they  had  heard  me  say. 

The  executive  committee  of  the  Alliance  took  spe- 
cial pains  to  have  the  public  meetings  reported  by  the 
local  press,  and  the  larger  and  more  important  among 
them  by  the  metropolitan  press.  My  experience  was 
that  the  British  papers  generally  reported  meetings 
and  speeches  fairly,  without  regard  to  the  views  of  the 
editors.  The  news  columns  were  accurate  and  impar- 
tial. Opinions,  prejudices,  likes  and  dislikes  were 
confined  to  the  editorial  columns.  That  was  the  rule. 
I  was  in  one  town,  however,  where  this  was  not  the 
case,  and  where  the  reporters  apparently  took  care 
to  omit  some  of  the  points  made  and  to  misrepresent 


590  EEMINISCENCES 

others.  Some  of  our  friends  were  annoyed  at  this, 
attributing  it  to  the  special  hostility  of  the  owners 
of  the  papers  to  our  work. 

Not  long  afterwards  I  again  visited  that  town.  At 
what  I  supposed  might  be  the  proper  point  I  turned 
from  the  line  of  my  remarks  to  compliment  the  Eng- 
lish press  for  its  uniform  habit  of  sending  reporters  to 
such  meetings,  expressing  the  opinion  that  it  was 
more  frequently  done  there  than  in  America.  "But, 
young  gentlemen,"  I  said,  speaking  directly  to  the 
reporters,  "the  representatives  of  our  papers  when 
present  always  try  to  report  the  points  of  a  speech  as 
they  are  made."  After  that,  proceeding  with  my 
address,  I  noticed  that  the  pencils  of  the  newspaper 
men  were  busy,  and  it  was  said  that  they  gave  a  good 
account  of  the  meeting. 

Sometimes  there  would  be  editorial  references  in  a 
local  paper  in  anticipation  of  a  meeting  in  its  locality. 
It  was  not  often  that  these  were  calculated  to  assist 
my  work,  but,  as  far  as  I  now  remember,  only  once 
was  a  disposition  manifested  in  any  of  them  to  incite 
interruption  or  disturbance.  In  that  case,  the  paper, 
while  saying  much  in  favor  of  "free  speech"  and 
"fair  play,"  suggested  that  it  was  important  that 
the  meeting  should  not  be  made  up  of  sympathizers 
with  the  speaker,  lest  the  applause  that  might  be 
accorded  him  in  such  case  should  lead  to  the  impres- 
sion outside  that  the  people  of  the  town  agreed  with 
his  "fanatical  notions."  He  ought  to  be  taught 
otherwise,  it  was  said.  The  meeting  to  which  that 
article  alluded  was  disturbed  by  some  individuals 
under  the  lead  of  a  man  who  said  he  was  a  brewer, 
and  it  was  some  time  before  order  could  be  secured  so 
that  I  could  go  on.     Expressions  of  dissent  at  meet- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  591 

ings  were  not  infrequent,  but  very  rarely  to  an  extent 
exceeding  the  bounds  of  propriety. 

During  my  first  visit  a  frequent  form  of  interrup- 
tion was  by  an  inquiry  as  to  slavery.  I  was  partic- 
ular not  to  speak  of  the  intemperance  prevalent 
in  Great  Britain  in  more  positive  terms  than  did 
Englishmen  themselves.  If  by  chance  I  used  the 
word  "slavery"  in  reference  to  the  drink  habit, 
which  so  many  Englishmen  had  called  their  great 
national  vice,  some  one  in  the  audience  was  almost 
certain  to  refer  to  negro  slavery  in  the  American 
southern  states. 

In  one  of  my  speeches,  I  was  interrupted  by  a 
question  as  to  the  condition  of  temperance  in  the 
South.  In  the  course  of  my  reply,  I  said  something  to 
the  effect  that  many  persons  in  that  section  favored 
everything  tending  to  promote  it,  for  the  reason  that 
a  sober  slave  was  more  valuable  property  than  a 
drunken  one.  That  expression  was  taken  up  and 
found  its  way  in  a  disconnected,  distorted  form,  into 
some  of  the  papers,  in  which  I  was  berated,  much 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  liquor-interest  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  as  a  slavery  sympathizer,  and  as  being 
most  probably  a  slave  owner. 

The  intimation  that  Prohibition  had  been  or  could 
be  approved  by  any  slave  state  was  seized  upon  and 
made  the  most  of  by  its  opponents  in  Great  Britain  at 
that  time.  The  editor  of  the  Alliance  News  thought 
it  necessary  to  counteract  the  effect  of  that  as  much 
as  possible,  and  accordingly  he  caused  a  large  circu- 
lar, or  small  poster,  to  be  printed  to  correct  the 
impression  the  opposition  to  Prohibition  had  endeav- 
ored to  create.  Here  is  something  of  what  it 
contained.     It  seems  strange  reading  in  these  days, 


592  KEMINISCENCES 

wlien  no  one  in  all  this  broad  land  of  ours  can  be  a 
slaveholder,  and  what  is  better  yet,  when  no  one 
would  be.  The  circular  was  in  the  form  of  an  open 
letter  to  the  editor  of  a  paper  which  had  published  a 
communication  from  a  correspondent  intimating  that 
I  was  a  slaveholder. 

"  I  am  happy  to  inform  your  correspondent  that,  whatever 
may  be  his  talent  for  blundering,  he  can  never  have  made  a 
greater  mistake  in  his  life  than  in  attempting  to  connect  Neal 
Dow  with  negro  slavery.  Mr.  Dow  is  not  a  slave  owner  and 
never  w^as  a  slave  owner.  Here,  and  in  his  own  country,  his 
sentiments  are  and  have  been  antislavery,  and  his  political 
connections    are   with  that  great  Republican  party  that  now 

unites  nearly  all  the  antislavery  sentiment  of  the  states 

I  think  your  correspondent  should  hardly  have  ventured  to 
write  for  the  public  whilst  ignorant  of  so  simple  a  fact  in 
Geography.  Maine  herself,  Mr.  Dow's  birthplace  and  home, 
is  a  free  state  ;  the  Maine  Law  was  cradled  there,  and  not  in 

the  lap  of  slavery When  a  gentleman  of  irreproachable 

character  and  of  distinguished  position  in  his  own  country, 
inspired  with  a  philanthropic  desire  to  do  us  a  great  service, 
devotes  to  severe  platform  labor  the  leisure  at  his  disposal  in 
visiting  the  land  of  his  forefathers,  he  deserves  at  least  no 

unkindly  treatment  at  our  hands I  feel   sure  the  people 

will  accord  him  a  respectful  hearing  in  spite  of  the  insulting 
and  false  insinuations  of  a  writer,  whose  foremost  objection 
to  the  Maine  Law  is  confessed  to  be  a  senseless  '  jealousy  of 
everything  American.' " 

The  last  meeting  I  addressed  in  England  in  1857  was 
in  Free  Trade  Hall.  It  was  just  before  my  return  to 
America,  and  was  an  immense  gathering  of  working- 
men  to  bid  me  a  farewell.  There  I  was  interrupted 
by  the  common  question,  ' '  How  about  slavery  in  your 
own  land?"  At  that  time  the  cloud  which  was  so 
soon  to  precipitate  the  direful  woe  of  civil  war  upon 
our  country,  was  already  gathering.  I  took  occasion 
in  my  reply  to  the  question  to  say  that  serious 
trouble,  to  come  soon,  in  what  form  I  did  not  know, 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  593 

was  then  impending  over  my  beloved  land.  "When 
it  does  come,"  I  said,  "I  believe,  as  I  fervently  hope, 
its  end  will  be  the  overthrow  of  slavery. " 

Referring  to  slavery,  I  am  reminded  of  a  conversa- 
tion I  had  with  an  English  judge,  during  my  first 
visit  in  Great  Britain,  in  which  he  referred  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  and  to  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision,  then  comparatively  recent.  He  said  that 
its  decisions  were  once  influential  with  the  English 
judiciary,  but  that  since  that  decision  they  were 
no  longer  quoted.  He  said  when  he  was  at  the  bar  he 
had  a  case  involving  a  large  amount  of  property.  The 
point  in  the  suit  had  been  decided  in  England  in  a 
manner  adverse  to  his  client,  but  he  had  found  in  the 
reports  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  a  case 
turning  on  the  identical  proposition  decided  favor- 
ably to  his  cause.  He  cited  this  case  and  the  court 
replied:  "You  do  not  expect  us  to  disregard  the  de- 
cision of  our  own  court?"  "No,  I  only  wish  that  the 
case  may  come  up  for  review,"  which  was  done,  and 
the  upper  court  reversed  its  own  decision  and  his 
client  won.  Now,  he  said,  a  barrister  would  not  be 
listened  to  in  quoting  a  decision  of  the  American 
court.  This  conversation,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  more  than  thirty  years  ago.     What  changes  since! 

And  here  I  am  reminded  that  on  the  occasion  of 
my  first  visit  to  Maryland  in  the  early  fifties,  to 
speak  upon  temperance,  I  arrived  in  Baltimore  in 
the  evening  and  instead  of  going  to  a  hotel  as  I 
expected,  went  to  the  private  house  of  a  friend 
who  had  kindly  met  me  at  the  station.  The  next 
morning  he  was  in  my  room  and  noticed  a  copy 
of  the  Anti-Slavery  Standard,  with  which  I  had 
happened  to  wrap  up  an  extra  pair  of  shoes  I  had 


594  KEMINISCENCES 

in  my  trunk.  The  great  earnestness  with  which  he 
spoke  to  me  seems  strange  to  me  even  now,  as  he 
begged  of  me  to  get  rid  of  every  paper  of  that  kind 
that  I  might  have  about  my  baggage,  and  expressed 
his  gratification  that  he,  instead  of  a  stranger  at 
some  hotel,  had  discovered  that  abhorred  sheet; 
otherwise,  he  thought,  and  he  was  doubtless  cor- 
rect, that  my  stay  in  Maryland  would  be  short  and 
probably  disagreeable.     Again,  what  changes! 

One  of  the  most  gratifying  of  my  experiences  in 
Grreat  Britain  was  the  manifestation  of  the  friend- 
liness on  the  part  of  the  working  people  for  the 
temperance  movement,  and,  as  well,  to  the  cause  of 
the  Union,  when  that  was  threatened  by  our  civil 
war.  I  had  abundant  opportunities  to  learn  that  the 
masses  of  the  British  people  were  warm  friends  of  the 
United  States,  and  had  been  for  many  years.  The 
war  for  American  independence  left  no  rankling  in 
their  hearts,  as  it  did  in  those  of  our  fathers,  because 
the  English  people  as  a  whole  sympathized  with 
the  colonies  in  that  strife,  as  did  many  of  the 
most  eminent  British  statesmen. 

I  had  welcomes  most  cordial,  and  farewells  most 
touching,  from  vast  numbers  of  the  working-men  of 
England,  but  among  them  all  none  was  more  striking 
than  one  in  which  a  large  body  of  working-men 
demonstrated  in  a  most  effective  and  flattering  way 
the  deep  sympathy  they  had  cherished  for  the  cause 
of  the  Union  when  it  was  assailed  by  civil  war. 
They  had  assembled  in  Free  Trade  Hall,  filling  to 
repletion  the  body  of  the  house,  so  that  it  seemed 
quite  impossible  for  another  person  to  find  foothold. 
The  occasion  was  a  meeting  of  the  Social  Science 
Congress,  the  special  topic  under  consideration  being, 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  595 

if  I  remember  aright,  the  improvement  of  the  homes 
of  the  working-men.  I  had  been  announced  as  one 
of  a  long  list  of  speakers,  inc4uding  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  of  the  nation.  Just  previous 
to  the  opening,  one  of  the  managers  came  to  me  and 
said  that  there  would  be  on  the  platform  that  night 
several  Southerners  —  meaning  Englishmen  who  had 
sympathized  with  the  South  during  the  struggle  in 
the  United  States  —  and  expressed  the  hope  that  I 
would  say  nothing  that  might  unpleasantly  affect 
their  sensibilities.  My  laughing,  if  not  reassuring, 
reply  was,  "I  am  a  descendant  of  Quakers,  a  people 
who  speak,  if  at  all,  as  the  spirit  moves." 

When  the  meeting  was  opened  the  platform  was 
filled  with  a  large  number  of  the  best  known  men 
of  the  kingdom.  I  remember  that  Lord  Shaftsbury 
was  the  presiding  officer,  that  Lord  Brougham  was 
also  present,  and  that  that  most  able  and  distin- 
guished American  lawyer,  David  Dudley  Field,  was 
on  the  platform.  Mr.  Thomas  Hughes  was  among 
the  speakers.  I  recall  that  particularly,  for  he  pre- 
ceded me  in  speaking,  and,  in  alluding  to  a  remark  of 
his,  I  caused  considerable  merriment  by  unconsciously 
referring  to  him  as  "Tom  Brown."  I  had,  by  the 
way,  been  introduced  to  Mr.  Hughes  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  on  which  occasion  he  appeared  to  be 
pleased  that  I  had  read  his  delightful  "Tom  Brown 
at  Rugby,"  and  amused  when  I  told  him  that  we 
knew  him  in  America  as  "  Tom  Brown." 

I  was  at  that  time  no  stranger  in  Free  Trade  Hall, 
and  was  almost  as  much  at  home  on  its  platform  as  on 
that  of  the  City  Hall  in  my  native  city.  Nor  was  I  a 
stranger  to  the  mass  of  the  working-men  gathered 
there,  who  gave  me  a  most  hearty  and  cordial  greet- 


596  REMINISCENCES 

ing  when  I  was  introduced  to  them  as  a  United  States 
Union  general.  The  "spirit"  of  their  cheers,  at  once 
moved  me  to  express  my  thanks  to  them,  not  for  their 
reception  of  me,  but  rather  for  the  sublime  patience, 
the  grand  Christian  courage,  with  which  the  working- 
men  of  Manchester,  though  out  of  work  and  suffering 
great  privations,  had  stood  by  my  dear  country  in  its 
recent  trials.  My  ear  caught  a  hiss  or  two  from  the 
platform  —  where  the  nobility  was  gathered  —  but 
that  aristocratic  disapproval  was  instantly  drowned 
by  thunderous  applause  from  the  body  of  the  house, 
where  thousands  of  working-men  were  assembled. 
AVhat  further  reference  I  made  to  the  recent  Ameri- 
can war  was  not  hissed  from  the  platform,  or,  if  so,  I 
could  not  hear  it  because  of  the  cheering  from  the 
floor.  The  working-men  of  Manchester  thus  proved 
most  unmistakably  where  their  sympathies  had  been 
during  our  Avar  for  the  Union. 

Under  another  head  of  my  remarks  I  had  a  similar 
experience.  I  had  taken  for  my  text,  "Education," 
the  last  word  in  the  speech  of  Mr.  Hughes.  It  natur- 
ally led  me  where  I  was  more  than  willing  to  follow, 
to  the  consideration  of  law  as  an  educator  and  to 
the  bad  educational  influence  of  the  laws  which  estab- 
lished the  "publics " among  the  people.  At  this  point 
I  was  again  hissed  from  the  platform.  Casting  my 
eye  in  the  direction  whence  the  sound  seemed  to 
come,  I  caught  that  of  a  nobleman  who  some  time 
previously  had  told  me  that  the  gin  palaces  were 
permitted  because  the  working-men  demanded  them. 
It  was  my  opportunity  to  show  him  that  he  was 
wrong.  Turning  from  the  nobility  on  the  platform 
to  the  masses  on  the  floor,  I  said: 

"Working-men  of   England,   I  am  told  that  you 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  fj*.)? 

want,  you  demand,  you  will  have  these  i)n])licH.  Tell 
me,  is  this  so  ?  "  With  a  resounding-  roar  tlie  response 
was  given,  "No!"  There  were  no  further  hisses 
from  the  platform,  and  the  approving  demonstrations 
from  the  floor  convinced  my  noble  friend  tliat  as  to 
the  particular  working-men  gathered  in  that  hall,  he 
was  wrong  and  I  was  right. 

Some  time  afterward  I  met  Mr.  Hughes.  He 
frankly  told  me  that  he  had  been  disi)leased  with 
some  of  my  statements  on  that  occasion,  but  that  he 
had  been  led  "to  think  of  it "  by  what  I  had  said,  and 
concluded  upon  the  whole  that  the  position  I  had 
taken  was  sound,  though  he  thought  my  "way  of 
putting  it"  rather  sharp.  Probably,  had  my  "way 
of  putting  it "  been  mild  and  dull  my  si^eech  would 
have  escaped  his  attention  altogether,  and  he  would 
not  have  been  led  "to  think "  of  the  subject. 

I  found  it  a  pleasure  to  speak  to  English  audiences. 
They  are  quick  to  manifest  disapproval  of  what  dis- 
pleases them,  and  quite  as  ready  to  show  a  speaker 
that  they  are  in  sympathy  with  him.  At  one  meeting, 
I  think  it  was  during  my  last  visit,  I  had  occasion  to 
criticize  the  position  John  Bright  had  taken  relative 
to  the  movement  I  was  advocating.  Instantly  there 
was  a  storm  of  hisses.  John  Bright  was  naturally 
and  properly  a  favorite  with  the  people  of  Great 
Britain  who  would  be  likely  to  attend  a  meeting  such 
as  I  was  addressing,  and  it  was  clear  that  the  great 
commoner  was  admired  by  my  audience.  Waiting 
until  the  hissing  had  ceased,  I  said:  "Englishmen,  it 
is  your  boast  that  you  love  fair  play.  British  spirit 
and  British  pluck  say,  '  When  you  are  struck,  strike 
back!'"  That  sentiment  was  loudly  applauded,  as  I 
expected  it  would  be,   and  when  the  applause  liad 


598  KEMIKISCENCES 

subsided,  I  added:  "Joliii  Bright  has  struck  at  us. 
Give  me  a  chance  to  strike  back!"  Again  they 
applauded,  and  listened  to  me  respectfully,  and 
sympathetically  while  I  endeavored  to  show  that 
upon  the  point  under  discussion  Mr.  Bright  was 
wrong  and  we  Avere  right. 

I  had  known  John  Bright  by  reputation,  of  course, 
and  had  a  great  admiration  for  him.  It  had  been  my 
pleasure  to  make  his  personal  acquaintance,  and  to 
find  him  a  most  agreeable,  companionable  man.  He 
had  taken  particular  pains  on  several  occasions  to  be 
very  polite  and  kind  to  me.  Once  we  took  a  long 
drive  together,  when  our  conversation  was  confined 
largely  to  the  contest  in  England  between  friends  of 
the  North  and  the  sympathizers  with  the  South  in 
our  civil  war.  Again  we  dined  together  as  guests  of 
Mr.  Whitworth,  at  the  Reform  Club.  Among  the 
party  were  Mr.  Samuel  Pope  and  Mr.  J.  H.  Raper. 
It  was  on  this  occasion,  I  think,  that  Mr.  Bright 
informed  me  that  it  had  been  the  purpose  of  Lord 
Palmerston  to  take  advantage  of  the  civil  trouble  in 
our  country  and  to  make  war  upon  it.  I  remember 
with  what  emphasis,  in  referring  to  it,  Mr.  Bright 
said:  "That  would  have  been  the  part  of  a  coward 
and  a  l^ully !  " 

He  told  me  that  at  the  time  of  the  Trent  excitement 
he  called  to  see  a  member  of  the  government  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Finding  him  in  bed,  he  went 
directly  to  his  chamber,  his  purpose  being  to  urge 
that  no  offensive  word  be  used  in  any  communication 
upon  that  subject  to  the  United  States  government, 
and  received  his  promise  that  he  would  do  his  best  to 
prevent  it.  AVhen,  finally,  the  communication  was 
prepared  and  softened  down  as  much  possible  in  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  599 

presence  of  influences  desiring  to  improve  the  oppor- 
tunity for  trouble,  it  was  submitted  to  the  Queen  and 
Prince  Albert,  and  at  their  suggestion  was  further 
modified  so  as  to  make  it  less  offensive.  I  had  heard 
before  of  the  good  offices  of  the  Queen  in  that 
emergency,  for  which  she  is  entitled  to  the  warm 
gratitude  of  every  loyal  American,  but  was  much 
interested  to  get  it  directly  from  so  staunch  a  friend 
of  the  United  States  as  was  John  Bright. 

Mr.  Bright  took  me  into  the  House  of  Lords  and 
gave  me  an  opportunity  to  meet  a  number  of  the 
prominent  men  in  that  body.  Among  them  were 
Earl  Russell  and  Lord  Brougham.  This  reminds  me 
that  I  had  a  most  agreeable  experience  in  the  House 
of  Commons  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Potter,  who 
had  also  been  a  warm,  earnest  friend  of  the  North 
during  the  struggle  for  the  Union.  He  was  partic- 
ularly kind  and  attentive,  taking  great  interest  in 
introducing  me  to  many  members.  Among  others 
whom  I  met  on  that  or  some  other  occasion  were  Mr. 
Whitworth,  Mr.  Hughes,  Sir  George  Grey,  Disraeli, 
and  Mr.  Gladstone. 

I  was  unfavorably  impressed  with  the  style  of  speak- 
ing which  seemed  to  be  general  in  the  Commons.  It 
appeared  to  me  to  be  a  halting,  hesitating  way,  that 
would  prove  tedious  indeed  to  an  average  American 
audience  accustomed  to  rapidity  of  talk  and  clearness 
of  enunciation.  As  I  remember  it,  the  only  two 
speakers  that  I  heard  in  that  body  free  from  what 
I  thought  a  defect  in  speaking  were  Sir  George  Grey 
and  Mr.  Gladstone,  the  latter  especially  pleasing  me 
very  much  by  the  prompt,  ready  and  straightforward 
way  in  which  he  spoke. 

My  introduction  to  English  domestic  life  was  in  a 


600  KEMINISCENCES 

charming  home  in  the  suburbs  of  Manchester.  At 
the  station  in  that  city  on  the  evening  after  my  first 
reception  at  Liverpool,  I  was  met  by  a  number  of 
people,  several  of  whom  politely  pressed  me  to  become 
their  guest.  Among  them  Wilson  Crewdson,  a  Friend, 
claimed  a  right  to  carry  me  off,  as  I  was  of  Quaker 
stock.  With  him  my  acquaintance  soon  ripened  into 
the  warmest  friendship  and  esteem.  Thereafter  that 
home  was  mine  whenever  I  was  in  Manchester,  and 
none  more  delightful  could  be  found  anywhere.  I 
may  not  with  propriety  describe  its  admirable  and 
attractive  appointments  more  than  to  say  that  they 
were  all  that  exquisite  taste  could  suggest  and 
abundant  wealth  command.  Justice  to  my  grateful 
recollection  of  hosts  of  my  English  friends  prompts 
me  to  say  that  the  remembrance  of  the  generous  hos- 
pitality enjoyed  in  so  many  families  during  my 
several  visits  to  Great  Britain,  is  among  the  choicest 
treasures  of  my  memory. 

It  was  my  delightful  fortune  to  be  most  cordially 
received  into  many  English,  Scottish,  Irish,  and 
AVelsh  families,  and  to  participate  in  the  home  life  of 
the  people  almost  continually  from  my  first  day  in  the 
country.  I  have  visited  many  charming  country 
retreats,  some  of  them  several  times,  at  the  seaside,  on 
the  shores  of  Cumberland  lakes,  on  the  banks  of  the 
rivers,  in  the  subur])s  of  the  great  towns,  removed 
from  the  bustle  and  noise  of  thronged  streets,  but 
often  in  view  of  great  towering  chimneys  bearing 
witness  to  the  tireless  industry  of  a  wonderful  nation, 
the  products  of  whose  workshops  minister  to  tlie  luxu- 
ries, tastes  and  desires,  or  supply  the  clamorous  needs, 
of  man  the  world  over. 

Occasionally  a  guest  in  castle  or  hall  of  a  noble, 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  (lOl 

often  welcomed  to  the  princely  mansions  of  the  rich, 
more  frequently  sheltered  by  the  humble  roofs  of 
those  whose  possession  of  this  world's  goods  was  far 
from  large,  passing  much  of  my  time  with  those  who 
had  made  a  study  of  English  social  conditions  and 
who  were  in  full  sympathy  with  the  work  in  which 
I  was  engaged,  often  also  with  others  who  gravely 
questioned  its  wisdom  and  practicability,  and  not 
infrequently  entertained  by  those  with  views  posi- 
tively opposed  to  mine,  I  had  a  grand  opportunity  to 
learn  much  of  home  life  in  Great  Britain  in  its  varying 
forms,  and  to  become  familiar  with  all  conditions  ob- 
taining among  the  British  people.  Whether  with  the 
high  or  the  humble,  with  the  rich  or  the  poor,  with 
the  sympathizers  or  the  opponents  of  my  views,  I 
experienced  only  that  kindness,  courtesy  and  consid- 
eration which  so  quickly  make  a  stranger  feel  that  he 
is  an  old  friend,  and  which  increased  my  respect  and 
admiration  for  the  nation  of  Great  Britain  as  a  whole. 
They  alone  may  know  of  liome  life  in  that  country 
whose  never-to-be-forgotten  pleasure  it  has  been  to 
learn  by  experience  of  the  tactful  and  delightful  way 
peculiar  to  that  people,  of  making  their  guests  forget 
that  they  are  not  to  the  manor  born. 

Among  the  most  gratifying  of  my  experiences  in 
Great  Britain  was  my  intercourse  with  the  Friends. 
Their  affectionate  welcome  and  respectful  attention 
and  consideration  touched  me  deeply.  In  most  cases 
they  had  no  knowledge  of  my  Quaker  origin,  but 
where  that  was  known  they  seemed  to  take  me  direct- 
ly to  their  hearts.  During  my  first  visit  I  happened 
to  be  in  London  at  the  time  of  a  yearly-meeting  of 
that  society  and  attended  it  by  special  invitation. 
In  entering  I  took  my  seat  near  the  door,  but  was 


602  KEMIXISCENCES 

recognized  and  immediately  conducted  to  the  "high 
seats,"  and  after  the  meeting  had  multitudinous 
hand-shakings  ^Yith  people  from  all  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, who  pressed  me,  each  and  every  one,  to  visit 
them. 

I  was  glad  to  meet  so  many  influential,  representa- 
tive people.  I  was  pleased  by  their  kindness  and  by 
their  earnest  insistence  that  I  should  address  them, 
because  it  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  reach  a  circle  of 
wide  influence  and  large  means,  a  body  of  thought- 
ful, considerate  people,  accustomed  to  live  up  to  their 
convictions  and  to  contribute  liberally  of  time,  effort 
and  money  to  promote  measures  they  believed  impor- 
tant to  the  material,  moral  and  religious  welfare  of 
mankind. 

There  was  another  reason  for  the  great  pleasure  and 
satisfaction  thus  derived.  I  knew  how  much  this 
English  Quaker  kindness  to  his  son  would  please  my 
honored  father.  I  remembered  his  silent-  sorrow 
when  early  in  life  I  left  the  society  he  loved  so  well, 
and  I  thought  of  the  patience  with  which  in  his  declin- 
ing years  he  had  borne  added  business  burdens  that  I 
might  devote  time  to  the  cause  whose  principles  I  had 
learned  from  him.  I  recalled  his  "Farewell  Neal;  I 
may  never  see  thee  again,"  as — he  being  then  over 
ninety  years  of  age,  —  I  bade  him  goodbye  on  the  eve 
of  my  departure  for  England,  and  I  found  pleasure  in 
writing  to  him  at  once  of  my  greeting  from  English 
Friends. 

In  Dublin,  Ireland,  I  was  the  guest  of  a  family  of 
Friends  at  a  most  delightful  home.  The  meeting  I 
held  there  was  in  the  largest  hall  in  the  city,  i)acked 
full,  with  the  mayor  in  the  chair.  Driving  about  the 
city  in  every  direction,  I  saw  much  of  all  phases  of 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  603 

life.  Many  parts  of  the  town  were  handsome,  but 
some  localities  occupied  by  the  poor,  were  such  as  to 
convince  me  that  the  people  in  our  country  cannot 
well  comprehend,  without  seeing  it,  what  Irish  pov- 
erty really  is. 

I  had  a  peculiar  illustration  of  the  freedom  and  cor- 
diality of  the  Irish  everywhere  in  their  intercourse 
with  Americans.  I  found  myself  one  day  alone  in  a 
railroad  compartment  with  an  Irish  gentleman  who, 
when  he  learned  that  I  was  an  American,  immedi- 
ately insisted  on  being  my  friend.  He  lived  but 
a  few  miles  farther  on,  and  was  very  earnest  for  me  to 
stay  over  and  visit  him.  He  promised  me  innum- 
erable drives  about  the  country  seats,  old  castles  and 
round  towers,  and,  leaning  toward  me,  in  the  most 
hearty  way  said:  "I  have  just  laid  in  a  barrel  of  the 
finest  whiskey  you  ever  saw." 

In  Ireland  I  visited  a  ruin  called  Donahue's  Castle. 
It  is  very  old,  but  in  good  preservation,  standing  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Killarney,  and  was  a  stronghold  for 
the  time  in  which  it  was  built.  It  is  large,  the  walls 
are  thick,  massive  and  high,  with  loopholes  command- 
ing all  approaches.  Our  carman,  who  drove  us  to  the 
place,  was,  like  most  of  his  countrymen,  full  of  talk, 
and  he  entertained  us  with  many  legends  and  tales  of 
the  superstitions  of  the  old  time.  At  one  place  he 
stopped  and  pointing  to  a  window  in  the  second  story 
said:  "Do  you  see  that  window?  Well,  the  owner, 
last  of  his  line,  being  hard  pressed  by  his  enemies, 
leaped  out  of  that  window  and  was  instantly  changed 
into  a  goose  and  flew  to  the  lake,  where  lie  yet  lives. 
Once  in  seven  years  he  assumes  his  proper  form  and, 
mounted  on  a  large  grey  horse,  is  seen  by  the  villagers 
riding  through  the  country,  his  horseman's  cloak  and 


604  KEMINISCENCES 

his  long  liair  flowing  in  the  wind."  "Have  you  ever 
seen  him ? "  "I  have  not,  hut  I  know  a  man  who  has, 
and  it  was  only  last  Sunday  was  a  fortnight. "  Un- 
questionably the  man  fully  believed  what  he  told  me. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  in  Killarney  on  a 
market  day.  The  main  street  was  crowded  with 
people  from  all  the  country  round.  They  were  there, 
a  few  with  horse-carts,  more  with  donkey-carts,  and 
still  more  than  all  the  others,  on  foot,  in  a  manifest 
poverty  and  wretchedness  that  is  beyond  all  power  of 
description.  Some  had  come  to  sell  milk,  eggs, 
butter,  generally  very  small  quantities  of  each;  some 
had  come  to  buy  a  little  tea  and  sugar;  many  more 
had  nothing  to  sell,  but  almost  all  of  them  had  come 
there  to  drink  whiskey.  I  inquired  of  a  woman  in  a 
donkey-cart  the  way  to  the  old  ruins  I  saw  upon  a 
hill  not  far  away.  There  were  two  women  and  a  boy 
in  the  cart.  She  of  whom  I  inquired  had  a  clean, 
intelligent  face,  and  was  very  good-looking.  She 
pointed  out  to  me  the  nearest  way  to  the  ruin  I 
wished  to  visit,  and  as  I  walked  along  beside  the 
donkey-cart  we  talked.  She  had  been  to  market  to 
sell  four  gallons  of  milk,  for  which  she  had  obtained 
sixteen  cents,  and  two  women,  a  boy,  and  a  donkey 
cart  had  been  occupied  the  entire  day  in  that  transac- 
tion, but  I  do  not  think  either  of  the  three  had  spent 
any  part  of  the  proceeds  of  the  marketing  in  whiskey 
and  were  thus  better  off  than  many  of  their  neighbors. 

A  glorious  country  Ireland  is,  but  the  people  are 
reduced  to  a  condition  of  the  most  extreme  poverty, 
largely  by  whiskey ;  but  beyond  that  there  are  other 
agencies  concerned  in  this  demoralization,  of  which 
I  forbear  to  speak,  having  had  but  few  opportunities 
to  .judge  of  them.     The  Irish  have  many  noble  quali- 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  fiOS 

ties,  an  intense  love  of  country,  while  gratitude  in 
their  hearts  is  a  passion.  They  always  remember  a 
kindness  and  never  forget  an  intentional  wrong. 
They  are  industrious  whenever  and  wherever  they 
can  see  any  profit  in  being  so,  and  they  are  economi- 
cal in  everything  but  whiskey.  They  are  hardy,  and 
patiently  bear  fatigue  and  privation,  and  have  all 
the  courage  of  their  fearless  ancestors.  Ireland  has  a 
delightful  climate,  a  fertile  soil,  yet  a  poor  and  often 
starving  population.  There  is  a  reason  for  this;  there 
must  be.  There  ought  to  be  a  remedy  for  it.  What 
is  it? 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  mention  the  names  of  the 
many  friends  to  whom  I  Avas  greatly  indebted  for 
the  personal  pleasure  attending  my  tours  in  Great 
Britain.  In  the  intervals  for  rest  from  work  laid  out 
for  me,  every  facility  was  afforded  me  for  seeing 
interesting  places  and  objects  in  different  parts  of 
the  country,  and  for  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
people  and  the  conditions  by  which  they  were  sur- 
rounded. 

Among  other  gentlemen  with  whom  I  was  brought 
into  close  and  intimate  contact,  resulting  in  warm 
friendship,  maintained  by  many  years  of  constant 
correspondence,  was  Mr.  J.  H.  Raper,  a  gentleman 
of  wide  and  varied  information,  extensive  travel  and 
great  political  experience.  He  was  what  was  called 
the  parliamentary  agent  of  the  Alliance,  with  a  large 
acquaintance  among  the  public  men  of  Great  Britain. 
Mr.  Raper  passed  some  time  traveling  in  this  country, 
and  was  for  a  time  my  guest  He  was  in  Washington 
in  the  spring  of  1876,  and  witnessed  that  remarkable 
scene  in  which  James  G.  Blaine,  although  in  a  minor- 
ity at  the  time,  appeared  to  take  absolute  possession 


606  REMINISCENCES 

of  the  house,  the  large  hostile  majority  being  appar- 
ently cowed  by  the  defiant  presence  of  the  great 
leader.  Mr.  Raper  afterwards  told  me  that  he  had 
attended  sessions  of  several  parliaments  of  Chris- 
tendom, but  that  in  all  his  experience  he  had  never 
witnessed  a  more  dramatic  and  striking  scene. 

I  was  one  day  walking  toward  parliament  with  Mr. 

Raper,  when  he  said  to  me:    "Here  comes ," 

mentioning  the  name  of  a  member  of  parliament  who 
had  become  prominent  in  fitting  out  cruisers  to  prey 
upon  the  commerce  of  the  United  States.  ' '  Do  not 
introduce  him, "  said  I,  and  we  walked  on.  After  we 
had  passed,  Mr.  Raper  said,  "  That  is  quite  awkward. 
He  is  sure  to  ask  me  who  you  are  and  why  I  did  not 
introduce  him."  "Tell  him,"  was  my  reply,  "  who  I 
am,  and  that  I  desired  no  introduction." 

Afterwards  I  learned  that  this  gentleman  did  make 
the  inquiry,  and  was  told  that  I  desired  no  communi- 
cation with  a  man  who  had  built  ships  to  injure  my 
country.  The  gentleman  replied  that  he  was  able  to 
defend  himself  and  to  justify  his  conduct;  that  he 
had  done  nothing  without  the  knowledge  and  acqui- 
escence of  his  government;  that  the  ministry  had 
been  fully  informed  of  the  fact  that  his  firm  was 
building  vessels  of  war  for  the  Confederates.  I  con- 
fess that  I  was  startled  at  this  disclosure,  because  I 
had  supposed  all  along  that  the  English  government 
was  ignorant,  though  negligently  so,  that  the  Confed- 
eracy was  being  thus  aided. 

Under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Raper,  I  was  taken  into 
a  court  in  Westminster  at  a  most  opportune  moment 
during  the  progress  of  a  very  interesting  case.  The 
room  seemed  to  me  ridiculously  small  for  the  consid- 
eration of  a  matter  involving  such  vast  possibilities. 


or   NEAL   DOW.  607 

Its  inadequate  space  was  overcrowded  with  about  one 
hundred  persons,  including  officials,  lawyers,  and 
spectators.  The  case  was  that  of  a  lady  claiming  to 
be  the  granddaughter  of  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  elder 
brother  of  the  Duke  of  Kent,  Victoria's  grandfather, 
and  consequently  the  rightful  queen.  She  took  the 
stand  as  a  witness  while  I  was  there.  1  judged  her  to 
be  from  fifty  to  fifty-five  years  of  age.  She  was  well, 
but  plainly,  dressed,  and  thoroughly  self-possessed. 
She  was  subjected  to  a  searching  cross-examination,  in 
which  her  answers  were  prompt  and  clear  upon  every 
point — "Yes,"  or  "No,"  "I  am  quite  sure,"  "I  am 
quite  certain  of  that. "  In  many  responses  relating  to 
names  and  facts  dating  as  far  back  as  1815  to  1817  it 
was  the  same,  without  a  shadow  of  doubt  or  hesita- 
tion. Whatever  the  truth  may  have  been,  her  manner 
and  bearing  led  a  spectator  to  conclude  that  she  was 
entirely  honest.  I  learned  that  many  believed  her 
claim  well-founded,  but  none  imagined  that  there  was 
any  probability  of  Victoria  being  dethroned  to  give 
place  to  the  "Lady  Mary,"  as  she  was  called. 

One  could  not  witness  the  quiet,  orderly  conduct  of 
such  a  case  without  being  reminded  of  many  tragic 
events  in  English  history  precipitated  by  questions  — 
and  sometimes  when  there  was  no  room  for  questions 
—  about  titles  to  the  throne  and  cognate  issues.  Who 
can  recall  those  events  without  gratitude  to  God  that 
out  of  such  conditions  as  existed  in  the  long-ago  He 
has  aided  men  to  evolve  the  blessings  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  we  now  enjoy  ? 

I  was  intensely  pleased  and  interested  in  old  castles 
and  abbeys,  in  palaces  and  villas,  grand  business 
establishments,  galleries  of  art  and  famous  museums 
and  libraries,  but  while  visiting  those  I  did  not  forget 


608  KEMINISCENCES 

the  haunts  of  poverty  and  vice.  Under  the  guidance 
of  friends  and  the  police,  I  threaded  narrow  and  vile 
lanes,  crowded  on  either  side  with  sordid,  wretched, 
tumble-down  houses,  swarming  with  a  population  far 
more  to  be  pitied  than  heathendom  and  pagandom 
and  savagery  in  many  other  lands.  In  these  dreadful 
places  were  gin-palaces  glittering  with  plate  glass  and 
polished  brass,  and  beershops  and  "publics,"  the 
vile,  murderous  trade  of  which  is  supported  and  made 
profitable  by  the  pitiful  earnings,  beggings,  and  steal- 
ings of  sufferers  from  the  startling  poverty  to  be  seen 
on  every  hand. 

It  may  be  possible  elsewhere  to  equal  the  squalor 
and  misery  of  some  parts  of  London  that  I  saw  but 
nowhere  is  it  possible  to  exceed  them.  The  over- 
whelming proportion  of  all  this  is  due  to  the  drink 
system  existing  in  England,  fostered  and  protected  by 
the  government  as  no  other  trade  is.  While  that  sys- 
tem continues  that  vast  mass  of  wretchedness  and 
vice  and  degradation  cannot  be  changed.  No  intelli- 
gent person  can  doubt  that  the  greater  part  of  this 
shocking  poverty  and  misery  and  ghastly  crime  would 
cease  if  the  liquor-traffic  were  suppressed.  It  is  in 
such  places  that  the  dangerous  classes  are  bred  and 
fostered  and  multiplied.  Their  conscience  is  dead- 
ened and  their  blood  and  brain  fired  and  infiamed  by 
the  grog-shops  which  the  government  is  careful  to 
plant  and  establish  at  every  street  corner. 

I  have  passed  hours  late  at  night  and  into  the  early 
morning,  in  company  with  police  officials,  in  travers- 
ing the  low  streets  of  large  cities,  and  have  been 
horrified  by  the  sights.  There  were  great  crowds  of 
men,  women  and  children,  many  of  the  women  and 
children  bareheaded  and  barefooted,  even  in  cold  and 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  609 

stormy  weather,  some  of  the  children,  from  nine  to 
twelve  years  old,  stumbling  along-  with  babies  in  their 
arms,  far  too  heavy  for  them  to  carry. 

These  poor  people  were  on  their  way  to  or  from  the 
"publics,"  as  the  liquor-saloons  and  gin-palaces  are 
called  in  England.  These  places  are  generally  fur- 
nished with  two  doors,  and  I  have  seen  old  and 
young,  giving  almost  every  conceivable  evidence  of 
wretchedness  and  misery  in  the  extreme,  struggling  to 
enter  one,  while  from  the  other  they  came  staggering 
out  in  all  stages  of  intoxication,  some  hilarious,  some 
quarrelsome,  some  wild,  some  stupid,  others  almost 
helpless. 

A  small  army  of  policemen  is  constantly  on  duty 
to  keep  the  peace  and  quell  disturbances  in  the 
"publics"  and  to  take  to  the  stations  the  "drunk 
and  incapable,"  and  the  "drunk  and  disorderly." 
At  police  stations  I  have  seen  the  floors  entirely 
covered  with  wretches  "drunk  and  incapable,"  the 
"drunk  and  disorderly"  meanwhile  raving  in  adja- 
cent cells.  There  seemed  to  be  as  many  drunken 
women  as  men.  Occasionally  I  have  seen  serious 
disturbances  in  a  public;  sometimes  a  drunken  man 
or  woman  w^ould  be  thrust  into  the  street;  sometimes 
there  was  a  fight  in  progress.  In  every  such  case  the 
police  were  promptly  called  upon  to  do  their  duty, 
which  seemed  to  be  chiefly  to  keep  the  rumsho{)s  clear 
of  all  impediments  to  the  free  ingress  of  more  drink- 
ers, and  to  their  egress  after  they  had  spent  all 
their  money.  I  was  told  that  such  scenes  as  these 
were  precisely  those  of  every  Saturday  night  in 
every  great  town  and  city  in  England  and  Scotland. 

Let  none  imagine  that  the  results  of  all  this  are 
solely  of  the  kind  to  which  too  many  practical  men 


610  REMINISCENCES 

of  affairs  affect  indifference.  I  heard  a  rich  English 
manufacturer,  who  was  an  employer  of  a  small  army 
of  laborers,  say  that  his  great  establishment,  with 
all  the  capital  invested,  was  idle  every  Monday  fol- 
lowing a  Saturday  pay-day  because  so  many  of  his 
employees  had  not  then  sufficiently  recovered  from 
their  Saturday  night  and  all-day  Sunday  debauch  to 
be  able  to  work.  I  heard  a  member  of  parliament, 
in  a  speech  referring  to  the  pauperism  chargeable  to 
these  gin-palaces,  say:  "I  have  upon  my  back  an 
enormous  weight  of  paupers  which  I  am  obliged  to 
carry  because  of  them,"  illustrating  his  situation  by 
stumbling  painfully  across  the  stage  with  his  head 
bowed  and  back  bent  as  if  he  were  weighed  down  by 
a  great  burden,  exclaiming  as  he  moved,  "If  it  were 
not  for  these  great  manufactories  of  pauperism  I 
might  walk  erect." 

It  was  to  do  something  to  correct  such  conditions 
that  the  United  Kingdom  Alliance  was  organized. 
It  was  in  the  hope  of  helping  in  its  laudable  effort 
that  my  several  visits  to  Great  Britain  were  made. 
The  object  of  the  Alliance  was  to  secure  further 
restriction  of  the  liquor-tracle  in  Great  Britain,  the 
specific  legislation  it  advocated  being  Prohibition 
in  districts  where  the  people  by  their  votes  should 
ask  for  it,  meanwhile  preparing  for  such  legislation 
by  an  agitation  tending  to  show  that  the  traffic  in 
liquors  was  detrimental  in  the  extreme  to  every 
interest,  material  as  well  as  moral,  of  the  country. 

There  was  certainly  abundant  reason  for  the  inter- 
est of  philanthropic  and  Christian  Englishmen  in 
some  movement  with  such  an  object.  I  might 
hesitate  to  say,  had  not  so  many  Englishmen  of 
high  standing  and  great  opportunities  for  accurate 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  ()11 

knowledge  said  so  again  and  again,  that  intemi^er- 
ance  is  the  national  vice  of  Great  Britain.  The 
newspapers  there  habitually  state,  and  many  times  on 
public  occasions  I  have  heard  Englishmen  say,  that 
their  country  is  the  most  drunken  in  the  world. 
By  nothing  seen  anywhere  in  the  United  States 
can  Americans  form  any  just  estimate  of  the  extent 
of  the  evil  in  Great  Britain.  Nevertheless,  a  traveler 
may  pass  much  time  there  and  see  little  of  this  unless 
he  puts  himself  in  its  way. 

New  ideas,  new  ways  of  life  and  new  methods  in 
all  departments,  make  slow  progress  in  England. 
The  London  Times  described  that  feature  of  the 
English  character  in  saying,  ' '  The  English  mind  does 
not  kindly  entertain  new  questions."  I  remember  a 
curious  illustration  of  this  peculiarity.  At  the  time 
of  my  first  visit  to  England,  the  driver  and  fireman 
on  locomotives,  though  on  fast  trains,  running  thirty, 
forty,  and  even  fifty  miles  an  hour,  were  exposed  to 
the  weather,  whatever  it  might  be,  without  the 
slightest  protection  against  sun,  wind,  rain,  sleet,  or 
snow.  I  was  astonished  at  this,  and  on  asking  some 
of  them  about  it,  learned  that  sometimes,  especially 
in  case  of  violent  storms,  their  suffering  was  very 
great.  I  inquired  of  some  of  the  railway  managers 
concerning  it,  and  they  gave  as  a  reason  for  not  pro- 
viding the  protection  that  is  afforded  on  American 
locomotives,  that  if  the  engineer  were  comfortal)le 
he  would  be  apt  to  drop  asleep. 

My  second  visit  was  about  ten  years  later,  and  at 
that  time  I  found  that  some  of  the  locomotives  had 
been  provided  with  a  plate  of  iron  as  high  as  the 
breast  of  the  engineman,  and  on  others  these  plates 
were  higher  than  the  head,  with  two  small  windows. 


612  KEMINISCENCES 

Six  or  eight  years  later,  on  the  occasion  of  my  last 
visit,  I  noticed  some  engines  with  the  top  of  this  iron 
plate  bent  over  to  the  rear  so  as  to  afford  a  partial 
shelter,  forming  an  approach  in  some  respects  to  the 
cal3  on  engines  in  America. 

When  I  was  first  in  England,  no  adequate  means 
was  provided  for  communication  between  the  cars 
and  the  locomotive,  so  that  a  signal  to  stop  in  case  of 
necessity  could  be  given  to  the  engineer.  I  had 
an  impressive,  personal  illustration  of  the  necessity 
for  something  of  the  kind  when  in  a  train  on  my 
way  from  Carlisle  to  Lancaster.  My  attention  was 
attracted  by  sparks  and  smoke  passing  the  window  of 
the  car  in  which  I  was  riding.  Looking  out,  I  saw 
the  baggage  on  the  top  of  the  next  car  but  one  in  front 
on  fire,  and  the  passengers  with  their  heads  out  of  the 
windows,  gesticulating  and  shouting  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  officials  of  the  train,  in  which 
attempt,  however,  they  were  unsuccessful. 

I  observed  that  along  by  the  side  of  the  cars  was  a 
continuous  stepping-board  about  six  inches  in  width. 
Opening  the  door  of  my  compartment,  I  stepped  down 
upon  this,  with  great  caution,  to  make  my  way  to  the 
engine.  It  was  a  task  attended  with  some  danger, 
especially  to  pass  from  one  car  to  another,  because  the 
distance  was  considerable,  and  the  means  of  holding 
on  not  of  the  best.  I  worked  along  past  the  burning 
car  and  almost  to  the  engine  before  I  succeeded  in 
alarming  the  driver.  Then  the  train  was  stopped  and 
the  fire  extinguished.  Two  or  three  minutes  more  of 
delay  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  passengers  in  the 
burning  car,  as  the  roof  was  already  burned  through 
in  several  places. 

The  passengers  were  very  earnest  in  their  thanks. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  613 

Among  them  was  a  large,  portly  gentleman,  who  was 
most  extravagant  in  his  declarations  that  they  were 
under  great  obligations  to  me.  He  asked  for  my 
card,  but  I  said  it  was  a  very  simple  matter,  and  there 
was  no  necessity  for  making  my  name  known.  He 
insisted  upon  having  it,  in  fact,  would  not  take  no 
for  an  answer.  When  at  length  I  handed  it  to  him, 
at  his  first  glance  at  my  name  he  turned  away  with- 
out another  word.  Naturally  I  was  at  a  loss  to 
account  for  so  sudden  a  change  of  manner,  and  after 
he  had  left  the  train  I  improved  the  opportunity  to 
make  some  inquiries  and  learned  that  he  was  one  of 
that  class  to  whom  my  name  and  my  mission  in  Great 
Britain  were  far  from  palatable,  a  wealthy  brewer. 

I  immediately  wrote  a  note  to  the  London  Times,  in 
which  I  described  the  mode  of  communication  be- 
tween cars  and  locomotive,  employed  in  the  United 
States,  referring  to  the  instance  I  have  related  by 
way  of  enforcing  the  necessity  for  some  such  arrange- 
ment; but  my  letter  to  the  Times  was  followed  by 
several  others  protesting  against  the  adoption  of  the 
American  check-line,  for  the  reason,  among  others, 
that  "every  old  woman  in  the  train  would  be  pull- 
ing it. "  Years  after  that  incident  I  found  that  there 
was  no  ready,  convenient,  and  easy  mode  in  any 
English  train  of  communicating  with  the  locomotive. 

The  United  States,  above  all  others,  is  the  country 
to  which  England  has  looked  for  an  increasing 
market,  so  important  to  her  own  prosperity,  and 
consequently  English  people  generally  do  not  approve 
of  any  legislation  on  our  part  which  may  tend  to 
diminish  her  sales  in  this  country.  I  do  not  doubt 
that  tariff  legislation,  together  with  the  belief  that 
the  United  States  was  or  would  become  one  of  the 


614  EEMmiSCENCES 

most  formidable  manufacturing  rivals  of  England, 
gave  tone  and  impulse  to  an  unfriendly  feeling 
toward  the  United  States  from  1861  to  1865  among 
a  considerable  portion  of  her  people.  More  than 
one  instance  came  under  my  personal  observation 
showing  that  it  was  something  more  than  a  desire  for 
what  they  believed  would  be  a  good  investment 
which  led  some  wealthy  Englishmen  to  purchase 
Confederate  securities. 

On  the  occasion  of  my  second  visit  to  England, 
a  gentleman  approached  me  and  inquired  of  me  if  it 
was  not  my  opinion  that  sooner  or  later  the  United 
States  government  would  assume  and  pay  the  dis- 
honored obligations  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
I  replied  that  the  United  States  courts  had  a 
profound  respect  for  English  precedents,  and  if 
the  time  should  ever  come  when  the  English  courts 
should  decide  that  the  government  of  Great  Britain 
was  under  obligations  to  pay  the  Fenian  bonds, 
our  government  might  take  into  consideration  the 
question  of  paying  the  Confederate  indebtedness. 
I  afterwards  learned  that  he  had  invested  several 
thousand  pounds  in  Confederate  bonds,  and  suspect 
that  my  response  to  his  inquiry  did  not  increase 
confidence  in  them  as  an  investment. 

If,  however,  it  was  true  that  a  portion  of  the 
English  people  earnestly  desired  the  disruption  of 
the  Union  during  our  civil  war,  great  hosts  of 
earnest,  true-hearted  men  and  women,  all  over  the 
United  Kingdom,  were  intensely  anxious  for  the 
preservation  of  our  institutions,  and  were  actively 
engaged  in  impressing  their  views  upon  the  English 
public,  and  in  aiding  in  every  proper  way  the  cause 
of    the  Union.      And  among  those  who  during  the 


or   NEAL   DOW.  615 

dark  period  of  our  civil  war  held  opinions  inimical 
to  our  government,  I  am  confident  a  much  better 
feeling  has  long  prevailed. 

Mingling  with  the  people  of  Great  Britain  as  I 
did,  and  carrying  with  me  everywhere  my  devotion 
to  the  institutions  and  policies  of  my  own  country, 
which  I  did  not  hesitate  to  avow,  I  had  abundant 
opportunities  to  learn  something  of  the  feeling  enter- 
tained by  the  people  of  Great  Britain  for  this  nation, 
and  I  am  confident  that  upon  the  whole  it  is  friendly 
in  the  extreme,  and  that  all  but  an  infinitesimal 
portion  desire  the  perpetuation  of  cordial  relations 
between  the  two  governments,  a  sentiment  which 
seems  to  me  should  be  cherished  by  every  right- 
minded  American  as  well  as  Englishman.  Every 
year  I  believe  the  conviction  in  England  and  in 
this  country  grows  stronger  that  the  two  great 
English-speaking  peoples  of  the  world  must  main- 
tain friendly  relations.  The  universal  sentiment 
among  the  more  considerate  classes  of  both  countries 
is  that  any  misunderstanding  that  may  arise  between 
them  in  the  future  should  be  adjusted  without  such 
a  shock  to  civilization  and  such  an  outrage  to 
humanity  as  a  war  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  would  be. 

My  speaking  tours  in  Great  Britain  were  interrupted 
by  several  pleasure-trips  to  France,  Switzerland,  Ger- 
many, Holland,  and  Italy.  My  time  on  the  continent 
was  not  all  given  to  sight-seeing.  I  sought  as  far 
as  possible  to  familiarize  myself  with  conditions 
existing  at  the  time  of  my  respective  visits.  My 
travels  were  under  such  auspices  as  afforded  me, 
with  the  kind  assistance  of  the  official  representa- 
tives of  the  United  States  in  the  countries  I  visited, 


616  REMINISCENCES 

more  tliaii  the  ordinary  facilities  for  this.  Though 
none  of  these  visits  had  any  connection  with  my  labor 
for  temperance  and  Prohibition,  in  each  of  those 
countries  I  had  the  great  pleasure  of  meeting  people 
who  were  interested  in  those  and  other  subjects  relat- 
ing to  the  well-being  of  society.  Friendships  were 
thus  commenced  which  have  been  continued  by  cor- 
respondence to  the  present  time,  save  where,  as  in  the 
case  of  some,  they  have  been  terminated  by  death. 

Of  all  of  interest  that  I  saw  and  heard,  I  take  space 
to  note  only  one  incident.  During  my  visit  in  1857, 
it  was  my  privilege  to  witness  the  ceremonies  connected 
with  the  wedding  of  the  ill-fated  Maximilian.  In  my 
last  visit  I  again  saw  Carlotta.  but  she  was  walking 
with  an  attendant  in  a  park,  a  broken-hearted  widow, 
wath  reason  dethroned,  her  happiness  and  hopes  hav- 
ing been  sacrificed  in  the  sad  Mexican  tragedy  of 
which  her  husband  was  the  victim,  herself  the 
type  of  countless  thousands  who  have  sulfered  from 
the  ambition  of  Euroi^ean  rulers,  in  their  ruthless 
trampling    upon  the  rights  of    other    peoples. 

ISly  return  from  each  English  tour  was  made  the 
occasion  for  receptions  which  the  friends  of  temper- 
ance thought  would  be  of  service  to  the  cause. 
When  I  reached  home  in  the  fall  of  1857,  after  my 
first  visit  abroad,  I  was  met  at  tlie  station  by  a 
large  number  of  my  fellow-citizens,  who,  with  a  band 
of  music,  banners  and  torches,  escorted  me  to  my 
house.  Subsequently  a  reception-meeting  crowded 
the  largest  hall  in  the  city,  in  which  most,  if  not 
all,  of  the  clergy,  besides  many  prominent  in  other 
walks  in  life,  participated.  I  was  also  the  guest 
at  a  great  gathering  in  Boston,  over  which  Hon. 
Henry    Wilson    presided,    while    the    list    of    vice- 


or    NEAL    DOW.  617 

presidents  included  siicli  veterans  in  tlie  cause  of 
temperance  as  Moses  Grant.  Among  them  I  also 
recall  Robert  Rantoul,  James  M.  Usher,  John  B. 
Alley,  Amasa  Walker,  William  Claflin,  Joseph  Story, 
and  many  others  then  or  afterwards  prominent  in 
public  life. 

It  must  not  be  understood  that  those  receptions 
and  other  similar  demonstrations  following  my  sub- 
sequent returns  from  England,  were  due,  or  intended 
for,  me  personally.  They  afforded  simply  convenient 
occasions  for  men  to  testify  to  their  appreciation  of 
the  importance  of  the  movement,  with  which  my 
name  was  identified,  as  an  agency  for  the  promo- 
tion of  the  moral  weal  and  material  prosperity  of 
the  people. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


THE   OUTBKEAK   OF   THE   WAR   FOR   THE    UNION.       HOPE  THAT 
IT   WOULD    RESULT   IN   THE   DESTRUCTION    OF    SLAVERY. 
CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS   IN     GREAT   BRIT- 
AIN    AS     TO     ITS     CAUSE   AND     CONSEQUENCES. 
APPOINTED   TO   THE    COMMAND   OF    A    REG- 
IMENT.       CAMP     LIFE     OF    THE     THIR- 
TEENTH     MAINE      AT      AUGUSTA. 
DEPARTURE   FOR   THE   FRONT. 


At  the  outbreak  of  tlie  war  for  the  Union  I  had  had 
no  military  experience,  not  even  such  as  might  have 
been  obtained  in  the  state  militia.  My  first  impres- 
sions of  that  line  of  public  duty  had  been  received  as 
a  boy  from  my  observation  of  our  old-time  musters, 
and  the  prejudices  there  produced  had  been  strong 
and  lasting.  I  had  held  an  honorary  appointment  on 
the  staff  of  Governor  Kent,  in  1841,  but  that  service 
was  only  nominal,  and  had  given  me  little  else  than  a 
knowledge  of  the  number  of  our  state  troops,  which 
at  the  time  mustered  something  over  forty  thousand 
men  in  the  various  branches  of  the  service.  That 
was  all  that  could  be  expected  of  a  descendant  of  a  line 
of  Quakers;  but,  as  already  intimated,  that  line  had 
been  severed  by  my  dismissal  from  the  society  for  dif- 
fering from  it  in  my  views  as  to  war. 


•^-z- 


1^ 


Col.  Neal  Dow,  Thirteenth  Maine  Recjimknt. 


KEMINISCENCES   OF  NEAL  DOW.  619 

Notwithstanding  my  birthright  to  a  love  of  peace, 
some  of  my  early  associations  tended  to  incnlcate  a 
spirit  not  in  accord  with  the  convictions  of  Friends. 
In  my  youth  the  memories  of  the  Revolution  were 
fresh,  and  all  the  more  inspiring  to  the  boys  of  my 
day  because  its  traditions  were  told  and  retold  to  us 
by  its  surviving  veterans,  some  of  whom  lingered 
among  us  long  after  the  days  of  my  early  manhood. 
One  of  these  was  a  next-door  neighbor,  and  to  his 
stories  of  Washington  and  the  war  I  listened  with 
great  delight  when  I  was  a  boy.  With  these  were 
mingled  my  boyish  impressions  of  the  war  of  1812, 
which  was  of  such  import  to  Portland  as  a  commercial 
town  that  I  grew  to  manhood  amid  influences  tinct- 
ured with  war-like  memories  and  spirit. 

Due  in  a  measure,  perhaps,  to  this,  and  in  part  to 
my  desire  for  general  information,  in  my  earlier  man- 
hood I  had  read  works  on  general  military  matters,  on 
engineering,  fortifications  and  sieges  and  on  artillery 
practice.  These  had  found  place  in  my  library  after  I 
had  read  them  with  interest  and  care.  I  had  kept  up 
in  my  reading  and  investigations  with  the  progress  in 
those  matters  and  with  the  changes  and  improvements 
in  means  of  offense  and  defense,  so  that  I  was  as  well 
informed  on  military  subjects  as  was  to  be  expected  of 
the  average  civilian.  Though  I  had  given  no  atten- 
tion to  drill,  I  was  not  without  experience  in  the 
command  of  organized  bodies  of  men.  These  facts 
were  known  to  many  of  my  personal  and  political 
friends,  and  from  the  first  note  of  war  it  was  evident 
that  some  of  them  expected  me  to  bear  a  part  in  it. 

Again,  the  war  grew  out  of  the  antislavery  agita- 
tion. I  had  been  an  earnest,  active  and  radical  anti- 
slavery  man.      In  Portland,  as  elsewhere,  there  was 


620  KEMINISCENCES 

more  or  less  talk  in  certain  political  circles  to  the 
effect  that  the  ' '  abolitionists,  having  brought  on  the 
trouble,  ought  to  fight  it  out."  I  had  enjoyed  the  per- 
sonal acquaintance  of  such  leaders  in  the  different 
phases  of  organized  hostility  to  slavery  as  Garrison, 
Phillips,  Birney,  Sumner,  Wilson,  Giddings,  Chase, 
Hale  and  others  among  those  of  national  reputation, 
and  of  such  as  General  Samuel  Fessenden,  Rev.  Austin 
Willey,  of  local  renown,  and  of  others  who,  if  less 
widely  known,  were  equally  sincere  and  earnest. 
With  most  of  them,  I  felt  that,  in  the  event  of  a  civil 
war,  slavery  ought  to  be  abolished,  and  I  was  quite 
willing  to  bear  my  part  in  anything  that  would  bring 
to  pass  the  desired  result.  Taking  everything  into 
consideration,  notwithstanding  my  want  of  knowl- 
edge in  the  matter  of  drill  and  tactics,  I  was  inclined 
to  the  opinion  that  duty  called  me  to  enter  the 
military  service  of  the  country. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  had  passed  my  fifty -seventh 
birthday  when  the  assault  on  Sumter  took  place,  and 
was  beyond  the  age  when  most  men  are  able  to  bear 
the  fatigue  and  exposure  incident  to  army  life  with 
reasonable  safety,  and  therefore  could  not  be  expected 
to  volunteer,  while  my  business  affairs  at  that  time, 
owing  to  heavy  losses,  were  peculiarly  involved  and 
needed  my  personal  attention,  which  could  not  be 
diverted  from  them  without  serious  risk.  More 
than  this,  my  honored  father  was  then  approaching 
the  end.  He  had,  at  most,  but  a  short  time  to  live, 
and  it  did  not  seem  to  me  right  to  leave  him,  unless 
it  should  be  clear  that  my  services  were  needed. 
Hence,  in  the  anxious  weeks  that  preceded  the  actual 
commencement  of  hostilities  I  had,  upon  the  whole, 
little  thought  of  participation  in  it,  should  war  come. 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  021 

But  immediately  after  the  attack  on  Sumter  I  was 
forced  to  prepare  for  the  possibility  of  joining  the 
ranks,  as  the  only  way  to  prevent  my  elder  son,  Fred., 
who  I  thought  was  not  as  well  able  as  I  to  endure  the 
hardships  of  army  life,  from  going  off  with  the  first 
troops  from  Maine.  On  the  evening  of  tlie  day  of  the 
call  of  the  President  for  seventy-five  thousand  men  he 
enlisted  in  the  first  military  company  of  the  state 
which  volunteered.  Because  of  his  poor  health  I 
refused  my  approval,  at  the  same  time  promising  him 
that  if  the  war  continued  he  should  go,  if  I  did  not, 
reminding  him  that  we  could  not  both  leave  home. 
The  next  day  I  offered  my  services  to  the  governor 
in  any  capacity  in  which  I  might  be  useful,  and 
the  same  day  began  the  study  of  Hardee's  Tactics, 
and  to  commence  my  preparations  for  departure 
should  my  offer  be  accepted. 

Meanwhile,  my  first  service  was  rendered  in  using 
my  influence  as  a  bank  director  with  the  financial 
institutions  of  Portland  to  induce  them  to  offer  to 
loan  their  credit  to  the  governor  to  enable  the  state 
to  respond  promptly  to  the  first  call  of  the  President 
for  troops.  This  action  on  the  part  of  the  banks 
proved  of  great  assistance  in  expediting  the  equipment 
of  our  earlier  regiments  and  facilitating  their  depart- 
ure for  the  Potomac. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  intense  excitement 
prevailing  through  the  North  at  that  period.  When 
the  news  of  the  assault  on  the  Massachusetts  Sixth  in 
Baltimore  reached  Portland  the  feeling  here  could 
not  have  been  stronger  had  that  corps  been  composed 
of  our  own  citizens.  The  throngs  that  filled  our 
streets  gathered  in  a  mass  in  front  of  the  old  City 
Hall,  where  the  Soldiers'  monument  now  stands.     I 


6-22  REMINISCENCES 

liappened  to  be  passing  tlirougli  tlie  square  on  my 
accustomed  Sunday  evening  walk  and  was  pressed 
into  the  service  to  preside  and  to  address  the  impro- 
vised meeting.  In  my  remarks  I  said,  in  substance, 
that  as  glad  as  we  all  would  have  been  to  avoid  the 
issue  of  war,  now  that  it  had  been  forced  upon  us 
it  was  our  duty  to  accept  it  and  to  maintain  it  until 
the  last  vestige  of  the  great  underlying  cause  of  the 
trouble  had  been  swept  out  of  existence  and  the 
Union  was  free.  A  voice  in  the  crowd  shouted, 
"That's  treason!"  but  the  burst  of  applause  which 
greeted  the  sentiment  testified  that,  under  the  stress 
of  the  great  excitement  prevailing  at  the  moment, 
our  people  in  Portland  were  substantially  a  unit. 

The  news  of  the  Baltimore  affair  was  naturally 
startling.  It  was  impossible  then  to  know  the  depth 
of  the  anti-Union  sentiment  in  Maryland  which  it 
indicated.  Shortly  after  this  I  received  a  letter  from 
a  warm  personal  friend,  a  resident  of  Baltimore.  He 
was  a  gentleman  of  most  sterling  character,  of  great 
wealth,  and  was  largely  engaged  in  business  as  a 
manufacturer.  I  had  had  fears  that  he  might, 
because  of  his  residence,  sympathize  with  the  anti- 
Union  cause.  His  letter  Avlnch  was  published  was 
one  of  the  first  indications  of  the  day  that  all  were 
not  for  secession  in  Baltimore.     He  wrote: 

'*  A  large  portion  of  our  citizens  certainly  merit  the 
sympathy  of  their  northern  friends  in  the  sad  and  false 
position  in  which  they  have  been  placed  by  the  mob  of  the 
19th  ult.,  so  destructive  of  our  fair  fame  and  of  our  pros- 
perity ;  a  calamity  the  extent  of  which  it  is  impossible  to 
estimate. 

"  But  I  am  thankful  that  the  conservative  meml)crs  of  our 
community,  constituting  pretty  conclusively  a  large  majority, 
are  recovering  from  the  effects  of  the  shock,  have  thrown  off 
the  reign  of  terror,  and  are  exerting  themselves  to  remedy,  as 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  (523 

far  as  practicable,  the  evils  resulting;  from  our  misconduct, 
and  to  regain  the  position  in  the  Union  jireviously  held  by 
our  state. 

"  The  newspapers  have  given  details  of  the  events  here,  but 
you  want  a  friend's  evidence  and  testimony  more  as  to  how 
these  things  w^ere  brought  about,  and  the  true  prevailing  feel- 
ing here.  Our  state  and  city,  with  the  governor  and  mayor, 
have  been  sound,  resisting  all  the  vigorous  eftbrts  of  the 
secessionists  to  move  us.  It  is  our  misfortune,  however,  to 
have  a  legislature,  elected  eighteen  months  ago,  decidedly 
secession  in  sentiment,  which  the  governor  had  refused  to  call 
into  session  till  the  recent  raid,  when  he  yielded  to  the 
clamor  of  the  disunionists,  much  to  the  surprise  and  regret  of 
his  friends. 

"The  raid  of  the  19th  ult.,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  was 
all  planned  beforehand  in  connection  with  leaders  south  of 
this  state,  and  a  large  number  of  rowdies  sent  here  to  lead  otf 
and  assist  in  carrying  it  out.  The  governor  was  warned,  but 
could  not  credit  it  till  too  late  to  act,  finding  our  troojjs  too 
divided  in  sentiment  to  be  reliable,  while  it  was  impracticable 
to  arm  the  '  minute  men,'  who  had  been  drilling  without  arms 
in  large  force  —  quite  adequate  to  control  aflairs  if  armed 

"I  do  not  like  to  make  serious  accusations,  but  it  is  the 
prevailing  sentiment  that,  notwithstanding  what  we  had  to 
contend  with,  the  whole  aftair  might  have  been  prevented,  if 
so  desired,  by  those  in  charge  of  the  police,  which  is  a  strong, 
well  drilled  force. 

"  I  saw  the  beginning  of  the  attack.  Not  a  policeman  was 
to  be  seen  in  the  vicinity  —  none  on  guard  with  the  cars. 
Begun  by  a  few  rowdies,  once  under  way  it  was  impossible  to 
arrest  it.  Our  mayor,  when  apprised,  acted  nobly.  The 
plan  was  to  raise  the  cry  of  '  Invasion  ! '  '  Maryland  blood 
shed  ! '  '  Coercion  ! '  etc.,  and  it  is  marvelous  how  infectious  it 
was,  and  what  an  influence  it  had  to  turn  the  heads  of  those 
previously  quiet  Union  men,  apparently  revolutionizing  the 
city  at  once,  the  control  of  it  passing  into  the  hands  of  the 
military  and  upstart  authorities,  from  whose  yoke  it  would 
have  been  difficult  to  free  ourselves,  probably,  if  we  were  a 
few  hundred  miles  further  south 

"  Citizens  now  Avonder  at  themselves,  admitting  their  tem- 
porary insanity.  For  two  days  it  was  fearful,  as  if  the  evil 
one  and  his  emissaries  had  been  let  loose  in  our  midst.  It 
required  admirable  management  to  prevent  the  city  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  armed  mob,  the  state  depositories  having 


624  REMINISCENCES 

been  broken  into  and  arms  taken.  But  it  now  seems  as  if  the 
ordeal  may  be  useful  to  us,  uniting  us  in  loyalty  to  the 
government,  the  reaction    being   wonderful,  and    apparently 

sweeping  all  before  it 

"  I  cannot  wonder  at  the  determination  of  the  North  to  put 
down  this  abominable  conspiracy  to  destroy  the  best  govern- 
ment in  the  world.     I  believe  the  rebellion  will  be  crushed." 

There  was  another  field  open  to  me  in  which  I 
hoped  to  be  useful.  My  speaking  tour  through 
Great  Britain,  in  1857,  had  given  me  unusual  oppor- 
tunities to  study  English  opinions,  prejudices  and 
sympathies  as  to  this  country.  I  knew  of  the 
jealousies  entertained  there  in  certain  circles  of  the 
growing  power  and  importance  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  the  serious,  if  not  sinister,  concern  with  which 
they  watched  our  expanding  commerce,  and  the 
promise  of  the  capacity  of  this  country,  under  favor- 
able conditions,  to  provide  itself  with  that  for  which 
we  were  then  largely  dependent  upon  England.  I 
anticipated,  what  proved  to  be  true,  that  for  those 
reasons  many  influential  Englishmen  would  be  led 
to  hope  for  the  success  of  secession,  and  that  great 
pressure  would  be  brought  upon  the  English  govern- 
ment to  avail  itself  of  the  slightest  pretext  for  direct 
interference  in  its  behalf.  But  I  knew  also  of  the 
intense  abhorrence  of  slavery  pervading  the  great 
middle  classes  in  England,  and  that  this  was  strong 
enough  to  counterbalance  all  other  influences  and 
to  keep  Great  Britain  at  least  avowedly  neutral, 
should  it  be  made  to  appear  that,  underlying  the 
war  for  the  Union  on  the  part  of  the  North,  was 
the  determination  that  slavery  must  go. 

I  had  a  large  and  influential  acquaintance  among 
a  class  of  the  English  people  who  would  be  naturally 
friendly  to  the  North.     They  were  antislavery  men, 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  625 

as  were  most  Englishmen;  tliey  were  pliilanthropic 
fenough,  as  too  many  Englishmen  were  not,  to  hold 
their  hatred  of  slavery  above  their  love  of  gain. 
I  had  met  and  conversed  with  men  of  this  class  in 
almost  every  considerable  town  in  the  United  King- 
dom. I  knew  that  though  there  were  many  potential 
influences  Avhich  would  sympathize  with  and  seek  to 
aid  the  South  because  of  the  supposed  gain  to  English 
commerce  to  follow  upon  a  dissolution  of  the  Union, 
these  acquaintances  of  mine  and  the  element  they 
represented  would  actively  endeavor  to  counteract 
that.  To  enable  them  to  do  that  effectively  it  was 
important  for  it  to  appear  that  the  actual  existence 
of  slavery  was  involved  in  the  impending  struggle. 
The  growing  interest  in  the  Maine-Law  movement 
in  Great  Britain,  with  which  my  recent  visit  there  had 
identified  my  name,  had  created  a  circle,  including 
opponents  as  well  as  friends  of  the  policy  of  prohibi- 
tion of  the  liquor-traffic,  within  which  I  was  assured 
by  friends  in  England  that  my  opinion  upon  current 
events  would  be  of  no  less  interest  and  influence  than 
with  my  more  immediate  personal  friends  in  that 
country.  Many  of  the  latter  urged  that  I  could 
materially  aid  in  their  work  in  behalf  of  the  northern 
cause  by  writing  for  the  press  of  Great  Britain.  This 
I  did  and  my  communications  were  extensively  cir- 
culated throughout  that  country,  being  published  by 
many  of  the  leading  journals  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
Subsequently  I  was  assured,  not  only  by  my  personal 
friends,  but  by  many  Englishmen  whom  I  did  not 
know,  as  well  as  by  the  United  States  Minister  at  the 
Court  of  St.  James,  that  my  articles  had  been  useful 
in  creating  a  public  sentiment  in  Great  Britain  of 
great  assistance  to  the  cause  of  the  Union. 


626  KEMINISCENCES 

During  my  confinement  as  a  prisoner  of  war  in 
Libby  prison,  the  following  resolution  was  sent  to  mV 
family  from  the  offices  of  the  English  Union  and 
Emancipation  Society,  of  which  Thomas  Bayley  Pot- 
ter, Esq.,  was  president,  and  among  the  vice-presi- 
dents of  which  were  Lieutenant-General  T.  Perronet 
Thompson,  Professor  Goldwin  Smith,  Rev.  Thomas 
Guthrie,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Newman  Hall,  L.  L.  B.,  John 
Stuart  Mill,  Thomas  Hughes,  Professor  F.  W.  New- 
man and  many  others  of  the  most  prominent  men  of 
Great  Britain,  to  some  of  whom  my  letters  had  been 
addressed. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Executive  of  the  Union  and  Emancipa- 
tion Society  beg  to  express  their  deep  sympathy  with  General 
Neal  Dow  in  respect  to  his  captivity  and  imprisonment  at 
Richmond.  The  Executive  very  highly  value  General  Dow's 
able  and  earnest  letters  on  slavery  and  the  American  War, 
believing  that  they  have  rendered  great  service  to  the  cause  of 
Union  and  Emancipation,  and  have  thereby  earned  for  Mr. 
Dow  the  gratitude  and  esteem  of  all  true  friends  of  freedom." 

Many  of  those  letters,  or  extensive  extracts  from 
them,  were  also  published  in  American  journals. 
Nor  was  their  publication  confined  to  England  and 
America,  as  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  re- 
ceived after  my  release  from  Libby  prison,  under  date 
of  April  4,  1864,  from  Baron  De  Lyndon,  The  Hague, 
Holland,  will  show.  In  this,  after  congratulating 
me  on  my  release,  and  stating  how  closely  my  friends 
in  Holland  had  watched  for  all  news  of  me,  he  wrote: 

"  Part  of  your  letters  circulated  in  our  papers,  and  Port 
Royal,  Ship  Island,  New  Orleans,  Port  Hudson,  Richmond, 
Libby  Prison  and  Mobile  became  through  them  places  quite 
familiar  to  our  people." 

While  I  did  not  write  a  line  in  any  of  those  letters 
that  did  not  represent  my  own  opinion  and  convic- 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  (')27 

tions  at  the  time,  they  were  all  written  in  the  li«lit  of 
my  knowledge  of  the  state  of  public  opinion  in 
England,  with  a  view  to  aiding  the  friends  of  the 
Union  in  Great  Britain  in  their  efforts  to  counteract 
the  strong  influences  hostile  to  it. 

No  one  could  fail  to  see  that  the  Confederacy  would 
have  been  immensely  aided,  even  to  the  extent  of  suc- 
cess in  its  effort  to  permanently  disrupt  the  Union, 
could  it  have  obtained  upon  any  pretense  the  assist- 
ance of  Great  Britain.  Many  considerations  were 
operating  upon  English  public  opinion  tending  toward 
action  upon  the  part  of  the  government  of  Great 
Britain  which  would  have  proved  an  insurmountalile 
obstacle  to  the  final  triumph  of  the  Union  cause. 
There  was  nothing  that  promised  to  be  more  effective 
in  counteracting  those  than  the  strong  antislavery 
feeling  pervading  the  great  mass  of  the  English 
people.  If  it  could  be  made  to  appear  that  the  over- 
throw of  ''the  peculiar  institution"  would  be  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Union,  as  it  was  certain  that  the  success  of  secession 
would  indefinitely  perpetuate  it,  English  hostility 
to  slavery  would  go  far  toward  preventing  that 
kind  of  British  aid  to  the  South  which  would  prove 
so  disastrous  to  the  hopes  of  the  North. 

The  discussion  of  my  antislavery  record  in  Eng- 
land during  my  visit  there  in  1857,  already  noted, 
had  to  an  extent  made  my  position  upon  that  subject 
known  in  that  country,  and  I  hoped  that  what  I  might 
write  on  that  point  would  have  more  weight  in 
behalf  of  our  country  than  otherwise  would  have 
been  the  case.  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  in  that  great  crisis  in  our  history  my  closest 
personal  friends  in  Great   Britain    were   among  the 


628  KEMINISCENCES 

most  constant  supporters  of  the  Union,  and  tliat  they 
were  active,  persistent  and  influential  in  promoting 
its  success  in  every  proper  way.  When,  after  the  close 
of  the  war  for  the  Union,  it  was  again  my  privilege 
to  visit  Great  Britain,  multiform  evidence  was 
afforded  me  that  my  correspondence  had  contributed, 
to  some  extent,  to  the  end  I  had  hoped  it  would  serve. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  war  was  to  last 
longer  than  many  at  the  North  first  believed.  My 
venerable  father  had  passed  away  on  the  1st  of  June, 
1861,  and  thus  was  severed  one  tie  which  had  kept  me 
at  home.  In  the  early  fall  of  1861  I  received  an  invi- 
tation from  Governor  Israel  Washburne  to  go  to  the 
state  capital,  Augusta,  and  suspected  what  was 
wanted  of  me.  The  first  flush  of  patriotic  excite- 
ment which  had  filled  the  early  call  for  troops  had 
expended  itself,  and  already  there  were  signs,  if  not 
of  despair,  at  least  of  weariness,  which  were  having 
a  retarding  efi'ect  upon  enlistments. 

Upon  presenting  myself  at  the  executive  chamber  at 
the  State  House,  Governor  Washburne  addressed  me 
as  "Colonel,''  recalling  my  old  staff  title,  forgotten 
for  nearly  twenty  years.  He  then  reminded  me  of  a 
remark  I  had  made  in  the  course  of  a  speech  several 
years  before,  occasioned  by  the  interruption  of  some 
one  in  the  audience,  who  said  that  the  South  would 
dissolve  the  Union.  He  went  on  to  say  that  though 
my  hair  was  growing  grey  the  time  had  come  for  me 
to  make  good  that  promise,  and  that  he  desired  me  to 
raise  a  regiment. 

I  told  hi  in  that  I  had  not  had  even  that  experience 
in  military  affairs  to  be  obtained  upon  training  day  in 
an  old-fashioned  muster.  But  he  urged  that  recruit- 
ing was  slow,  and  that  he  believed  my  reputation, 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  (y2\) 

influence  and  extensive  acquaintance  through  the 
state  would  assist  materially  in  raising  troops;  that 
Maine  was  about  to  raise  three  more  regiments,  and 
closed  by  offering  me  either  the  Thirteenth,  Four- 
teenth, or  Fifteenth,  as  I  preferred. 

I  promptly  accepted  the  Thirteenth  as  the  first  one 
likely  to  be  raised,  making  at  the  same  time  a  condi- 
tion, which  was  that  I  should  have  associated  with 
me  as  field-officers  men  who  had  already  seen  service 
at  the  front,  and  whose  characters,  tastes  and  habits 
were  such  as  would  contribute  to  the  morale  of  those 
who  were  to  be  in  my  command,  and  that  I  should 
be  permitted  to  choose  them.  Governor  Washburne 
cordially  assented,  and  after  a  little  delay  in  making 
the  selection  —  there  being  so  many  admirable  oflicers 
with  the  Maine  regiments  that  it  was  difficult  to 
choose  from  among  them  —  I  decided  upon  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Captain  Henry  Rust,  Jr.,  of  Norway,  then  at  the 
front  in  command  of  a  company  in  the  Tenth  Maine, 
was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel,  and  Captain  Frank 
S.  Hesseltine,  of  Waterville,  also  commanding  a  com- 
pany in  the  Third  regiment  was  made  major.  For 
adjutant,  Sergeant-Major  Frederick  Speed,  of  Gor- 
ham,  was  chosen.  He  was  then  sergeant-major  of 
the  Fifth  Maine,  and  was  thoroughly  informed  as  to 
the  duties  of  the  position  he  was  about  to  fill.  The 
field-officers  of  the  Thirteenth  were  well  spoken  of  by 
the  press  in  general  of  the  state.  One  of  the  dailies 
far  from  friendly  to  me  said  of  them : 

"Hon.  Neal  Dow  has  been  commissioned  colonel  of  the 
Thirteenth  regiment  of  Maine  volunteers.  In  many  respects 
this  is  an  admirable  appointment.  Mr.  Dow  is  well  known 
as   a   man  of    untiring  energy  and  industry,  and,  if  he  has 

41 


630  REMINISCENCES 

many  bitter  opponents,  no  man  in  the  state  has  more  numer- 
ous and  truer  friends.  He  has  long  desired  to  join  the  ranks 
of  the  defenders  of  his  country,  but  has  been  restrained  by 
duties  which  he  owed  to  his  family  of  an  imperative  nature. 
Those  who  know  him  best  assert  that  he  has  a  natural  apti- 
tude for  military  affairs,  and  that  his  greatest  difficulties  will 
arise  from  his  desire  to  be  always  busy,  leading  him  to  do  or 
to  attempt  too  much.  If  the  soldiers  under  his  command 
suffer,  it  will  be  from  too  great  rather  than  from  too  little 
care. 

' '  Our  citizens  are  pretty  well  acquainted  with  Captain 
Henry  Rust,  Jr.,  of  Norway,  formerly  of  the  First,  now  of 
the  Tenth  regiment,  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
Thirteenth.  Colonel  Rust  is  a  citizen  of  unimpeachable  char- 
acter, highly  respected  and  esteemed  by  his  neighbors  in 
Norway  and  the  neighljoring  towns.  He  is  a  gentleman  by 
nature  and  by  cultivation,  and  has  already  proved  himself  a 
good  soldier,  gaining  the  respect  of  his  officers  and  the  love 
and  confidence  of  his  men.  He  will  assuredly  give  a  good 
account  of  himself  in  his  new  position. 

"  Captain  Frank  Hesseltine,  of  Bangor,  now  of  the  Third 
Maine,  is  to  be  major  of  the  Thirteenth.  Captain  Hesseltine 
left  college  to  enlist  in  the  Third,  and  brought  with  him 
twelve  of  his  fellow-students.  Captain  Hesseltine,  although 
young,  has  already  established  a  high  reputation  for  manhood 
among  his  associates ;  as  a  soldier  he  did  his  duty  nol)ly  at 
Bull  Run  and  was  admired  by  all  for  his  coolness  and  fearless 
braver}'.  He  is  an  officer  who  will  command  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  the  men  under  his  command." 

Again  the  same  paper  referred  to  me  as  ' '  perhaps 
the  best  read  military  man  in  New  England,  and 
thoroughly  posted  in  the  science  of  fortifications  in 
different  parts  of  the  world. " 

Better  selections  for  those  three  positions  than 
the  men  I  had  chosen  could  not  have  been  made. 
All  of  them  proved  most  efficient  officers.  Their 
experience  and  ability  were  ably  seconded  by  an 
exceptionally  fine  list  of  staff  and  line  officers, 
and  were  especially  serviceable  in  securing  for 
the  Thirteenth   Maine,   when  it   left  the  state,   the 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  G31 

reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best  drilled  regiments 
Maine  had  sent  to  the  front,  a  reputation  which  was 
sustained  until  the  regiment,  by  orders  from  head- 
quarters of  the  Gulf  Department,  was  cut  up  into 
detachments  to  serve  at  different  posts,  a  fate  which 
would  not  have  befallen  it  could  high  rank  as  a  well- 
drilled  and  disciplined  regiment  have  saved  it,  and 
which  some  of  its  officers  thought  was  due  to  other 
causes  than  military  necessity.  The  rank  and  file  of 
the  regiment  was  of  the  best.  The  state  sent  to  the 
front  no  better  material  for  fine  soldiers.  The  paper 
already  quoted  from  said : 

" There    are    some    facts   not    generally   known 

in  regard  to  Colonel  Dow's  regiment.  As  it  was  noised 
abroad  that  Colonel  Dow  was  to  command  it,  it  filled  up  and 
ran  over.  It  had  a  surplus  of  six  hundred,  which  was  turned 
over  to  other  regiments.  It  is  reported  to  be  the  most 
temperate  and  moral  of  all  regiments  raised  in  the  state. 
How  this  is  we  do  not  know,  though  we  have  not  heard  it 
doubted,  but  that  it  is  among  the  best  yet  mustered  into  the 
service  cannot  be  questioned,  nor  will  it  be  questioned  that 
Colonel  Dow  is  one  of  the  ablest,  truest  officers  that  now 
commands  a  regiment  raised  in  this  state  or  elsewhere  since 
commencement  of  hostilities." 

Upon  my  promotion  to  brigadier-general.  Colonel 
Eust  was  promoted  to  the  command  of  the  regi- 
ment, and  served  until  January  6,  1865.  At  the  same 
time.  Major  Hesseltine  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel,  and  Adjutant  iSpeed  was  promoted 
to  a  captaincy  as  A.  A.  General  on  my  staff.  Colonel 
Eust  is  no  longer  living.  Colonel  Hesseltine,  re- 
spected by  all  his  wide  acquaintance,  is  in  the 
successful  practice  of  law  in  Boston,  and  Captain 
Speed  is  also  a  citizen  and  lawyer  of  high  standing 
in  Mississippi. 


632  EEMINISCENCES 

Soon  after  I  had  been  authorized  to  raise  a  regi- 
ment of  Maine  volunteers,  I  received  a  letter  from 
the  Secretary  of  "War,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
copy: 

"  War  Department,  Oct.   12,   1861. 
Col.  Neal  Dow,  Commandino;,  etc.,  Portland,  Maine. 

Sir: — You  are  hereby  authorized  to  raise  and  organize 
a  battery  of  artillery  for  the  service  of  the  United  States,  to 
serve  for  three  years,  or  during  the  war,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  Governor  Washl)urne,  of  your  state. 

This  authority  is  given  with  the  distinct  understanding  that 
the  government  reserves  the  right  to  revoke  the  commissions 
of  all  officers  who  may  be  found  incompetent.  It  is  also 
understood  that  this  battery  is  not  to  be  permanently  attached 
to  the  Thirteenth  regiment,  but  is  to  l)e  detachable  as  may  be 
ordered  by  the  commanding-general.      Very  respectfully, 

Simon  Cameron,   Secvetari/  of  War  J" 

In  response  to  my  call  for  volunteers  nearly  two 
thousand  men  offered,  some  in  full  companies,  some 
in  squads  and  many  as  individuals.  Among  my 
most  i^leasing  recollections  of  that  period  is  that  of 
letters  received  from  men,  and  in  some  cases  from 
women,  in  the  state,  saying  in  substance  that  their 
sons  had  desired  to  enlist,  and  that  they  had  thus 
far  dissuaded  them,  but  they  were  willing  for  them 
to  serve  under  my  command,  feeling  confident  that 
the  influences  of  my  headquarters  would  be  good. 

Among  those  who  volunteered  as  individuals  was 
the  youngest  son,  Samuel,  of  my  neighbor  and  friend, 
Senator  William  Pitt  Fessenden.  He  came  to  my 
house,  saying  that  his  father  had  consented  to  his 
going  to  the  war  CtAvo  of  his  brothers  were  already 
at  the  front)  provided  he  could  go  with  me.  The 
services  of  young  Fessenden  were  accepted,  and  he 
was  made  a  lieutenant  in  the  battery  of  artillery. 
Lieutenant  Fessenden  lost  his  life  while  serving  on 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  633 

the  staff  of  General  Tower,  at  the  battle  of  Manansas. 
General  Tower  wrote  of  him,  "He  was  ever  ready 
for  duty,  possessed  a  cool  head  and  brave  heart, 
and  shrank  from  no  exposure." 

The  captain  of  this  battery  was  Davis  Tillson  of 
Rockland,  Me.,  a  most  estimable  man  and  excel- 
lent officer.  Captain  Tillson  had  been  a  student  at 
West  Point,  where  as  the  result  of  an  accident  he 
had  been  obliged  to  suffer  the  amputation  of  a  por- 
tion of  one  leg,  which  necessitated  his  leaving  the 
military  academy.  He  had  been  so  admirably  fitted 
with  a  cork  substitute  and  had  become  so  wonted 
to  its  use  that  no  one  unacquainted  with  the  facts 
would  have  suspected  his  "unsoundness." 

When  the  United  States  officer  appeared  to  "mus- 
ter" us  into  the  United  States  service.  Captain 
Tillson  came  to  me  and  said:  "I  am  afraid  I 
cannot  pass  muster  with  that  officer.  He  was  a 
classmate  of  mine  at  West  Point  and  knows  my 
defect,   which  no  stranger  would  suspect." 

I  therefore  accompanied  Captain  Tillson  to  the 
mustering  officer  to  urge  his  acceptance.  I  found 
that  no  word  from  me  was  needed.  They  recog- 
nized each  other  instantly,  and  upon  Captain  Tillson 
expressing  his  fear  of  rejection  his  old  classmate 
replied:  "Tillson,  I  know  you.  I  would  pass  you 
if  you  had  lost  both  legs  and  arms." 

As  was  intimated  might  be  the  case  in  the  order 
authorizing  me  to  raise  the  battery,  it  was  detached 
from  the  Thirteenth  regiment  before  the  latter  left 
Augusta,  and  thereafter  I  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it.  All  through  the  war  it  sustained  an  untarnished 
reputation  for  efficiency,  discipline  and  courage. 

Notwithstanding  the  large  number    volunteering. 


634  KEMINISCENCES 

there  was  considerable  delay  in  organizing  the  regi- 
ment and  battery  with  due  regard  to  the  rights 
and  claims  to  commissions  of  those  who  had  been 
active  in  recruiting  them.  The  regiment  went  into 
camp  on  the  United  States  Arsenal  grounds  at 
Augusta,  on  the  easterly  bank  of  the  Kennebec 
river.  Here  the  men  lived  in  tents  during  the 
months  of  December,  1861,  and  January,  1862, 
although  the  mercury  was  frequently  below  zero. 
Its  ranks  were  fairly  representative  of  the  native 
population  of  the  state,  in  every  part  of  which  it 
was  recruited.  There  were  companies  from  the  cities, 
from  the  back-woods,  from  the  sea-coast  and  from 
the  farming  portion  of  Maine.  Altogether  it  was  of 
exceptionally  fine  j^ersonnel. 

This  life  was  entirely  new  to  me,  and  as  interest- 
ing as  it  was  novel.  Our  tents  were  pitched  in  the 
midst  of  the  snow,  and  at  first  our  cooking  was 
done  in  great  holes  dug  in  the  ground,  the  beef 
for  the  men  being  all  fried.  I  had  that  speedily 
changed,  an  oven  built,  large  enough  to  cook  for 
the  entire  regiment,  which  was  thereafter  provided 
with  roasted  or  baked  meats.  In  the  beginning  I 
kept  myself  busy  with  a  thousand  little  details 
which,  after  the  ofiicers  and  men  became  accustomed 
to  their  new  mode  of  life,  were  left  to  them.  Writ- 
ing of  our  camp  to  my  wife,  I  said : 

"  It  is  quite  pleasant  to  look  out  upon  it,  especially  in  the 
evening  when  the  tents  are  lighted.  They  seem  like  caves  of 
ground  glass,  with  a  light  wreath  of  smoke  from  the  apex. 
The  camp  resounds  with  the  sound  of  many  voices,  talking, 
laughing,  singing,  with  an  accompaniment  of  musical  instru- 
ments. At  8.30  the  drum  heats  for  the  roll-call,  when  the 
men  assemble  in  their  several  streets  to  answer  to  their 
names.     At  nine  the  tattoo  is  beaten  for  a  warning  to  retire, 


OF    NEAL    DOAV.  635 

at  9.30  the  taps,  when  the  lights  are  extinguished,  and  all  is 
suddenly  dark  and  quiet." 

The  regiment  received  great  advantage  from  the 
outset  through  the  experienced  field  and  staff  officers 
associated  with  me.  It  was  drilled  daily  on  the 
frozen  river,  which  afforded  a  most  excellent  parade 
ground  for  the  purpose.  Because  of  these  advan- 
tages it  was,  for  a  volunteer  regiment,  very  well 
drilled,   and  its  discipline  was  excellent. 

The  municipal  authorities  of  Augusta  informed 
me,  when  the  regiment  broke  camp  to  leave  the 
city,  that  they  had  had  no  trouble  whatever  from  any 
of  the  Thirteenth,  not  one  of  its  men  having  been 
arrested  for  drunkenness.  Indeed,  so  general  was 
the  reputation  of  the  regiment  for  sobriety  that  it 
became  quite  the  custom,  by  way  of  joke,  for 
recruits,  belonging  to  other  regiments  then  in  camp 
at  Augusta,  when  arrested  for  drunkenness  to  claim 
that  they  belonged  to  the  "Thirteenth,"  and  the 
drunker  their  condition  the  more  positive  was  their 
assertion  that  they  were  sober,  because,  as  they  in- 
sisted, not  a  soldier  of  "Neal  Dow's  regiment"  would 
become  intoxicated. 

Upon  arrival  in  Boston,  the  Thirteenth  was  quar- 
tered in  Faneuil  Hall.  The  Boston  Evening  Traveler 
of  February  19,  1863,  remarked  of  it:  "It  is  said  to 
be  the  quietest  regiment  that  has  ever  been  seen  in 
this  city." 

In  this  connection,  I  insert  an  extract  from  a  letter 
from  Adjutant-General  Hodsdon,  of  Maine: 

"It  must  be  a  source  of  profound  satisfaction  to  you  that 
the  results  of  your  world-wide  inculcation  of  teetotalisni  are 
so  happily  manifest  in  your  command,  and  result  entirely 
from  your  personal  exertions  in  this  behalf." 


636  EEMINISCENCES 

General  Hodsdon  was  not  riglit  in  attributing  so 
much  of  tlie  credit  to  me.  The  "Thirteenth  "  owed 
its  good  record  in  this  particular,  lirst,  to  the  general 
character  of  the  men  who  volunteered  for  it.  I  doubt 
if  any  regiment  went  to  the  front  from  any  state 
with  so  many  in  its  ranks  who  were  temperance 
men  from  principle.  Then  the  influence  of  its  head- 
quarters was,  of  course,  thrown  in  the  same  direction, 
and  its  held  and  line  ofiicers,  almost  without  excep- 
tion, seconded  my  efforts  in  this  particular.  Lastly, 
perhaps,  my  reputation  went  as  far  toward  this  as  any 
special  effort  on  my  part.  An  amusing  incident  illus- 
trating this  was  reported  to  me  while  in  camp  on  the 
Arsenal  grounds. 

A  peddler  had  got  into  the  lines,  and  soon  made  it 
known  to  the  men  that  he  had  liquor  for  sale.  He 
was  i)romptly  reported  to  the  officer  of  the  guard, 
and  by  him  was  given  his  choice  to  be  run  out  of 
camp  by  men  chasing  him  with  fixed  bayonets,  with 
orders  to  prick  him  if  they  caught  him,  or  to  have  his 
punishment  decided  upon  by  the  colonel.  He  chose 
the  latter.  "Do  you  know  who  the  colonel  is?" 
asked  the  ofiicer.  "No."  "Well,  his  name  is  Neal 
Dow."  "In  the  name  of  mercy,"  cried  the  now 
thoroughly  frightened  rum-peddler,  "don't  take  me 
to  him!     Give  me  a  chance  for  my  life!" 

The  discretion  of  the  man  was  commended  by  the 
amused  ofiicer  having  him  in  charge,  who  also  assured 
him  that  only  his  speed  would  enable  him  to  get  out 
of  the  lines  without  serious  injury.  He  had  heard  of 
me,  but  ])rolmbly  never  had  seen  me,  and,  like  most  of 
his  ilk,  doubtless  regarded  me  as  a  fiend  incarnate, 
with  no  taste  for  liquor,  but  with  a  i)i'()i)ensity  for 
devouring  rumsellers  on  every  possible  opportunity. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  037 

I  was  told  that  he  ran  as  if  something  worse  than  a 
bayonet  was  after  him.  He  never  was  found  within 
the  lines  again. 

Just  prior  to  the  departure  of  the  Thirteenth,  an 
incident  occurred  exciting  some  little  interest,  which 
was  commented  upon  by  the  newspapers  at  the  time. 
It  was  the  repulse  of  a  "charge"  made  upon  it  in 
earnest  by  the  First  Maine  cavalry  under  the  orders 
of  its  commander,  Colonel  Goddard.  The  Thirteenth 
was  to  be  presented  by  the  state  with  a  flag,  and  was 
drawn  up  in  line  in  front  of  the  capitol,  right  resting 
up  river,  for  that  purpose.  Colonel  L.  D.  M.  Sweat,  a 
senator  from  Cumberland  county,  and  chairman,  I 
think,  of  the  military  committee  of  the  legislature, 
was  about  to  make  the  presentation  speech  from  the 
steps  leading  to  the  State  House. 

The  First  Maine  cavalry,  which  had  its  camp  west 
of  the  State  House  grounds,  was  out  for  a  parade 
in  the  city,  and  Colonel  Goddard  undertook  to  lead 
his  regiment  between  the  Thirteenth  and  the  speaker 
who  was  addressing  it.  As  the  cavalry  colonel  gave 
no  heed  to  my  motion  for  him  to  halt,  perhaps 
because  he  was  my  senior  officer,  I  ordered  the  left 
company  of  the  Thirteenth  to  be  wheeled  across 
the  road,  and,  with  bayonets  at  the  charge,  to 
block  it  to  prevent  the  passage  of  his  regiment. 
Colonel  Goddard  had  the  reputation  of  being  a 
very  determined  man.  At  any  rate,  as  soon  as 
he  saw  this  manoeuvre  he  immediately  ordered  his 
buglers  to  sound  the  charge.  The  cavalry  responded 
pluckily  to  the  call  of  its  doughty  commander— 
"theirs  not  to  reason  why"  — and  came  up  to  the 
bayonets  just  as  near  as  they  could  urge  their  more 
discreet  horses.      To  the  latter  the  "spurs"  on  the 


638  REMINISCENCES 

guns  of  the  infantry  seemed  longer  than  those  on 
the  heels  of  their  riders,  and  they  would  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  driven  on  to  the  bayonets. 

The  result  was  a  good  deal  of  swearing  on  the 
part  of  the  cavalry  colonel,  the  withdrawal  of  his 
regiment  in  inextricable  confusion  from  its  unsuccess- 
ful charge,  and  the  further  uninterrupted  delivery 
of  the  presentation  speech.  This  terminated  the 
first  "engagement"  of  the  Thirteenth.  It  was  not 
much  of  a  skirmish,  to  be  sure,  but  it  was  more  of 
a  "cavalry  charge"  than  most  troops  during  the 
war  were  called  upon  to  encounter.  Colonel  God- 
dard,  who  was  an  old  lumberman,  afterwards 
laughingly  said  to  me  that  the  "jam"  of  the  Thir- 
teenth regiment  bayonets  was  the  only  one  he  had 
ever  been  unable  to  break. 

Prior  to  the  departure  of  my  regiment  a  farewell 
meeting  was  held  in  the  City  Hall  at  Portland.  It 
was  presided  over  by  the  collector  of  the  port, 
ex-Mayor  Jedediah  Jewett,  who,  in  behalf  of  the 
' '  Business  Men  and  Manufacturers  of  Portland, " 
presented  me  with  a  dress  sword,  belt  and  sash. 
At  the  same  meeting,  the  Maine  Charitable  and 
Mechanics'  Association,  through  its  president,  Mr. 
Newell  A.  Foster,  presented  a  full  set  of  horse 
equipments,  and  Rev.  Henry  D.  Moore,  in  behalf 
of  a  few  personal  friends,  tendered  me  a  fine 
brace  of  Colt  revolvers,  saying:  "It  is  a  striking 
commentary  on  tlie  times  that  I,  a  minister  of  the 
gospel  of  peace,  should  present  to  you,  the  son  of 
a  Quaker,  these  weapons  of  carnal  warfare."  Reply- 
ing to  him,  I  said:  "I  have  long  since  knocked  my 
broad-brim  into  a  cocked  hat." 

I  may  mention  here  that  when,  in  the  summer  of 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  639 

1863,  I  was  captured,  my  sword,  pistols  and  equip- 
ments fell  into  the  hands  of  my  captors,  and  were 
divided  among  them  by  lot.  There  was  nothing  to 
complain  of  in  this,  and  reference  is  only  made  to  the 
incident  by  way  of  introduction  to  the  following: 

More  than  twenty  years  after  my  capture,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1883,  I  received  a  letter  from  Arkansas,  from 
Jno.  B.  Simms,  Esq.,  stating  that  the  writer  was  a 
member  of  the  party  which  captured  me,  and  also, 
that  in  the  division  of  the  spoils  my  holster  pis- 
tols had  fallen  to  his  share;  that  long  since,  when 
pressed  for  means,  he  had  sold  one  of  the  pistols,  but 
the  other,  with  the  holsters,  he  had  retained  to  that 
day,  and  would  be  happy  to  return  it  and  them  if  I 
would  accept  them.  He  subsequently  did  forward 
them  with  the  expressed  hope  that  the  pistol  might 
never  be  used  again  ' '  in  so  unrighteous  a  cause. " 

Upon  that  point  Mr.  Simms  and  I  cannot  agree.  In 
my  opinion,  no  weapon  was  ever  dedicated  to  a  holier 
cause.  But  that  difference  does  not  prevent  me  from 
saying  that  when  I  received  those  pistols  from  the 
hand  of  the  clergyman  who  was  the  spokesman  of 
the  donors  I  was  not  more  sincere  in  my  belief  in  the 
righteousness  of  the  cause  which  I  was  hoping  at  my 
advanced  age  to  serve  than  was  young  Simms  in  his 
love  of  the  now  ' '  lost  cause, "  to  which  he  devoted  the 
enthusiasm  and  strength  of  his  youth.  As  much  as 
we  differ  upon  that  point,  we  are  united,  I  am  con- 
fident, in  the  hope  that  the  amity  between  all  sections 
of  our  common  country  will  be  forever  perpetuated. 
Mr.  Simms,  if  living,  will  not  take  it  amiss  if  I  add 
that  few  who  have  had  the  misfortune  to  be  prisoners 
of  war  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  more  courteous 
captors  than  were  he  and  his  associates. 


640  KEMINISCENCES 

Not  long  after  hearing  from  Mr.  Simms,  I  received 

a  copy  of  tlie  Louisville  Courier-Journal,  containing  a 

letter  from  a  correspondent  on  the  island  of  Capri, 

from  which  I  take  the  following  extract: 

"It  seems  rather  unreal  now,  looking  back  from  the 
middle  of  the  Mediterranean,  almost  as  unreal  as  the  fact 
that  we  are  now  off  the  coast  of  Crete.  The  most  curious 
day  of  all  was  on  a  day  at  Capri,  when  after  a  visit  to  the 
marvelous  Blue  Grotto,  we  met  an  old  Confederate  officer, 
and  in  his  smokins;  den  saw  a  sword  not  all  unknown  to  fame. 
There  were  two  inscriptions  on  the  sword.     The  first  was  : 

PRESENTED    BY    THE 
BUSINESS    MEN    AND    MANUFACTURERS 

OF    PORTLAND    TO 

COL.    NEAL    DOW,    THIRTEENTH    MAINE 

REGIMENT. 


Further  up  the  blade  was  this  second  inscription  : 

PRESENTED  TO 

LIEUT.  COL.  J.  C.  MCKOWEN 

FOR  ENTERING  THE  FEDERAL  LINES  NEAR  PORT  HUDSON, 

JUNE  3,  1863, 

"WITH    FIVE    MEN,    AND    CAPTURING    GEN.    NEAL    DOW 

AND    GUARD 

AT    HIS    HEADQUARTERS. 


"  The  sword  hung  on  the  wall  covered  with  weapons  of 
every  nation  ;  but  none,  I  venture  to  say,  captured  in  a  more 
daring  way  than  this  sword  of  Gen.  Neal  Dow." 

The  departure  of  my  regiment  for  the  war  was 
delayed  a  long  time,  owing  to  sickness  in  the  camp, 
which  had  a  duration  of  nearly  two  months,  some 
of  the  men  being  very  ill.  During  all  the  time  I 
interested  myself,  for  reasons  that  will  appear  later, 
of  which  all  my  officers  approved,  in  an  endeavor  to 
avoid  becoming  a  part  of  General  Butler's  command, 
and  to  obtain  orders  to  Join  the  army  of  the  Potomac. 
Twice  I  had  grounds  for  believing  that  we  would  be 
successful  in  this,  but  we  were  disappointed. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  <)41 

On  the  nth  of  February  I  received  the  followiiio: 
communication : 

"Headquarters  Department  of  New  England, 
Boston,  Feb.  10th,  1862. 
Col.  Neal  Dow, 

Commanding  13th  Me.  Vols. 
Sir:  —  General  Butler  desires  to  know  if  you  are  aware  of 
any  reason  why  you  may  not  be  able  to  march  within  one 
week  from  date.  This  is  aside  from  the  consideration  of  j)aij, 
about  which  in  the  present  condition  of  the  treasury  there 
may  be  some  difficulty. 

There  is,  however,  at  Ship  Island  a  paymaster  with  funds 
for  all  the  troops  of  the  division. 
I  am.  Colonel,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

George  C.  Strong,  A.  A.   General." 

The  Thirteenth  was  then  in  camp  in  tents  pitched 
in  snow  more  than  two  feet  deep.  My  reply  was  to  the 
effect  that  I  would  be  ready  to  march  upon  receipt  of 
orders.  In  a  few  days  I  was  ordered  to  report  in 
Boston  with  my  command  on  the  18th  of  February, 
and  on  that  day  w^e  broke  camp  at  Augusta,  not  know- 
ing our  destination.  Our  train  was  composed  of 
twenty-three  cars,  drawn  by  two  locomotives.  We 
arrived  at  Portland  about  noon.  The  first  man  to 
greet  me  as  I  stepped  from  the  train  w^as  my  friend, 
William  W.  Thomas,  then  mayor.  Among  others 
whom  I  remember  were  Eben  Steele  and  Charles  A. 
Stackpole. 

A  Portland  daily  the  next  morning  described  our 
march  through  the  city  as  follows: 

"The  regiment  made  a  splendid  appearance  as  it  passed 
along,  the  quiet,  orderly  behavior  and  soldierly  bearing  of 
the  troops  winning  the  warmest  encomiums  from  the  iunnensc 
crowds  that  had  gathered  to  receive  them  and  speed  their 
departure.  The  regiment  carried  the  beautiful  silken  stand- 
ard presented  at  Augusta  shortly  before.     Cheer  after  cheer 


642  EEMINISCENCES 

rose  from  the  crowd,  accompanied  by  the  waving  of  handker- 
chiefs, and  the  response  by  the  soldiers  was  hearty  and 
unanimous." 

My  regiment  was  a  body  of  men  of  ^vliich  any 
commander  might  have  been  justly  proud.  No  better 
material  for  soldiers  ever  marched  through  the  streets 
of  any  city  than  the  Thirteenth  Maine.  We  reached 
Boston  the  same  night,  and  there  I  learned  for  the 
first  time  that  my  efforts  and  those  of  my  friends  at 
Washington  to  have  my  regiment  ordered  to  the 
Potomac  had  failed,  and  that  we  were  to  join  General 
Butler's  expedition  against  New  Orleans,  and  that  for 
this  purpose  the  regiment  was  to  be  divided  at  Boston. 
This  was  what  I  had  most  desired  to  avoid. 

At  the  time  the  command  of  the  Thirteenth  regi- 
ment was  offered  to  me.  General  Butler  was  raising 
his  New  England  division  for  the  Gulf  Department. 
It  was  currently  reported  that  he  was  anxious  that 
the  regiments  to  be  raised  in  Maine  for  him  should  be 
commanded  by  men  whose  political  antecedents  were 
Democratic,  of  which  party  he  had  been  a  most  pro- 
nounced adherent.  My  Republicanism  was  as  earnest 
and  as  uncompromising  as  had  been  his  Democracy. 
I  was  as  well  known  to  General  Butler  as  a  radical  of 
a  most  unequivocal  type  as  he  was  to  me  as  a  radical 
among  his  own  associates.  Convinced  that  he  would 
not  want  me  in  his  department,  I  was  even  more  anx- 
ious than  I  might  otherwise  have  been  not  to  be 
under  his  command,  believing  that  I  could  be  of 
more  service  to  the  country  under  some  other  com- 
mander. 

Accordingly  I  asked  Governor  Washburne  to  see 
that  everything  practicable  was  done  to  keep  my  regi- 
ment out  of  General  Butler's  division,  and  to  have 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  643 

it  sent  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  In  several 
other  ways  that  seemed  to  me  proper  I  also  sought 
to  accomplish  the  same  end.  General  Butler  had 
learned  of  my  efforts  to  avoid  service  under  him,  and 
that  quite  naturally  did  not  tend  to  increase  the  cor- 
diality of  feeling  on  his  part  toward  me  or  my  regi- 
ment. 

I  was  early  convinced  that  the  apprehensions 
which  had  led  me  to  try  to  escape  the  assignment  of 
my  regiment  to  General  Butler's  division  were  well 
founded.  Only  a  few  days  after  meeting  the  General 
at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  while  yet  on  shipboard 
with  him,  I  was  disposed  to  yield  to  what  seemed 
to  me  a  determination  to  force  me  to  resign,  but  subse- 
quently decided  that  it  was  my  duty  to  remain  in 
the  service  even  though  it  should  continue  to  appear 
to  me,  as  it  did,  that  unnecessary  obstacles  Avould 
be  thrown  in  the  way  even  of  any  opportunities 
for  my  usefulness  which  might  offer  in  the  ordinary 
course. 

Referring  to  this,  Adjutant-General  Hodsdon,  of 
Maine,  in  a  letter  under  date  of  December  12,  1862, 
wrote: 

"  Time  and  history  will  set  all  these  matters  right,  and  it  is 
safer  thus  to  leave  them.  You  are  fulfilling  and  will  fulfil  the 
good  hopes  of  your  legions  of  friends,  not  only  in  Maine,  but 
throughout  the  civilized  world," 

My  wife  and  children  accompanied  me  to  Boston, 
and  on  the  22d  of  February  I  bade  them  good-by. 
More  than  two  years  were  to  elapse  before  I  should 
see  them  again. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


DIVISION   OF   MY   EEGIMENT.       I   EMBARK   "WITH  FOUR   COMPA- 
NIES  ON    STEAMER   MISSISSIPPI.       THE   THIRTY- 
FIRST       MASSACHUSETTS.  THE 
VOYAGE.        A   STORM. 
AGROUND. 


In  Boston  my  regiment  was  divided,  six  companies, 
under  command  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  Rust,  being 
ordered  to  New  York,  Avliere  several  of  my  friends  had 
prepared  a  reception  for  the  regiment,  and  a  hand- 
some silk  banner,  inscribed  with  the  number  of  the 
regiment  and  the  name  of  its  colonel,  was  presented 
to  the  battalion.  In  New  York,  Colonel  Rust,  with 
his  command,  embarked  on  the  steamer  Fulton  for 
Ship  Island,  which  they  reached  about  three  weeks 
before  I  arrived  with  the  other  four  companies. 

Major  Hesseltine  with  Company  B.,  Captain  Snell 
—  afterwards  Judge  Snell,  of  AVashington,  D.  C, — 
Company  D.,  Captain  Varney,  Company  E.,  Cap- 
tain Quinby,  and  Company  I.,  Lieutenant  Randall, 
embarked  with  me  on  the  new  steamer,  Mississippi, 
then  in  Boston  Harbor.  There  I  was  to  meet  for 
the  first  time  the  troops  of  another  state,  and  this 
experience  was  exceedingly  agreeable.  They  Avere 
the    Thirty-first    Massachusetts,    Colonel     Gooding. 


REMINISCENCES    OF  NEAL  DOW.  645 

When  I  went  on  board  I  did  not  know  that  I 
was  the  senior  officer,  until  Colonel  Gooding,  report- 
ing to  me,  politely  turned  over  the  command,  having 
received  his  orders  to  that  effect  before  mine  direct- 
ing me  to  assume  command  reached  me.  Writing 
home  that  evening,  I  said  of  our  new  companions: 

"The  Massachusetts  men  seem  to  be  gentlemen  of  intelli- 
gence and  culture,  every  way  civil,  quiet  and  gentlemanly. 
The  colonel  (Gooding)  is  very  much  of  a  gentleman.  That 
regiment,  both  officers  and  men,  seems  to  me  to  be  uncom- 
monly good  looking.  I  think  it  will  make  an  excellent 
corps  ;    it  is  yet  even  greener  than  mine." 

In  the  same  letter,  referring  to  the  expectation  then 
entertained  by  many,  myself  among  the  number,  of 
an  early  peace,  I  wrote: 

"How  soon  it  comes  I  care  not,  provided  the  peace  be 
such  as  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  nation,  the  happiness 
of  the  people  and  especially  freedom  for  the  poor  slaves." 

With  the  four  companies  of  the  Thirteenth,  added 
to  the  Massachusetts  Thirty -first,  the  Mississippi  was 
crowded  to  its  full  capacity.  The  ship  was  new  and 
had  never  taken  even  a  trial  trip.  The  engines  had 
not  been  tested,  and  nothing  was  known  of  the  relia- 
bility of  the  compasses.  The  steering  gear  even  had 
not  been  tried.  Yet  on  this  ship,  including  her 
own  company,  were  crowded  nearly  sixteen  hundred 
men,  with  all  their  camp  equipage,  baggage  and 
material  of  all  sorts,  for  a  long,  and,  as  it  afterwards 
proved,  dangerous  voyage.  So  overcrowded  was  the 
ship  that  the  men  were  actually  crammed  between 
decks,  not  a  quarter  of  them  having  room  on  deck  at 
the  same  time  for  air  and  exercise. 

The  lower  deck  was  loaded  with  coal,  shot  and 
shell  and  a  few  cannon.       On  her  forecastle   deck 

42 


646  EEMIXISCENCES 

was  mounted  a  long  rifled  cannon,  intended  for  our 
defense  in  case  we  should  meet  a  Confederate  pri- 
vateer, but  it  was  afterwards  discovered  that  there 
was  not  a  solid  shot  in  all  our  stores  which  could  be 
used  in  that  gun  —  an  oversight  quite  in  keeping  with 
much  that  was  done  in  the  hurry,  excitement  and 
inexperience  of  that  time.  The  outlook  was  not 
inspiring  to  those  who  had  had  any  experience  at 
sea,  and  perhaps  less  so  to  those  who  had  had  none. 
^Nevertheless,  I  was  able  to  write  home  of  the  situ- 
ation: 

"Our  men  are  perfectly  quiet  and  contented,  and  speak 
well  of  their  quarters,  though  I  thouglit  them  very  poor  when 
I  first  saw  them.  They  are  down  far  into  the  ship  where  it  is 
not  light,  even  at  midday,  and  only  boards  are  afforded  for 
the  men  to  sleep  on,  tier  over  tier,  three  or  four  high.  They 
cannot  have  straw  or  hay  for  fear  of  fire." 

We  were  on  board  two  days,  packed  like  sardines, 
before  the  ship  could  be  got  ready  for  sea.  Saturday, 
the  22d  of  February,  we  weighed  anchor,  and  were  off 
for  Fortress  Monroe,  where  General  Butler  was  to 
come  on  board.  In  the  afternoon,  at  the  request  of 
Colonel  Gooding,  I  called  all  the  officers  into  the 
saloon  and  asked  Chaplain  Chubbuck  of  the  Thirty- 
first  Massachusetts  to  read  Washington's  Farewell 
Address.  Afterwards,  at  the  request  of  some  of  the 
Massachusetts  officers,  I  addressed  them.  In  the 
evening  several  of  the  soldiers  came  into  the  saloon 
with  a  guitar,  and  an  hour  or  more  was  passed  in 
singing. 

On  Sunday,  the  23d,  my  chaplain  held  services  in 
the  morning,  and  the  chaplain  of  the  Thirty-first 
Massachusetts  in  the  evening.  It  was  comfortable 
that    day  walking    on    deck  without    overcoats.      I 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  (UT 

talked  with  many  of  iny  men  who  were  up  for  air 
and  exercise.  To  my  pleasure  as  well  as  surprise,  I 
found  them  all  quiet  and  contented,  some  of  them 
telling  me  that  they  had  already  come  to  prefer  tlieir 
bare  boards  to  mattresses  and  pillows! 

I  quote  from  a  letter  written  as  we  were  approach- 
ing Fortress  Monroe: 

We  are  drawing  further  into  the  l)ay,  and  see  many  vessels, 
all  of  them  topsail  schooners,  engaged,  pro])ahly,  in  tlie 
transportation  of  stores  and  supplies.  A  gunboat  came  down 
upon  us,  passing  very  near  on  our  lar1)oard,  and  manned  her 
rigging  and  gave  us  three  cheers.  We  see  land  now  on  both 
sides,  on  the  larboard,  within  three  miles;  on  the  starboard, 
ten  miles  away,  sandy  beaches  with  a  l)ackground  of  ever- 
green trees.  Cape  Henry,  with  its  tall  white  lighthouse,  we 
have  just  passed  on  the  larboard  side,  and  the  broad  bay 
opens  before  us. 

"  The  breeze  freshens  directly  in  our  faces;  it  is  cool,  but 
pleasant.  Many  sea-birds,  including  ducks  and  geese,  are 
playing  about.  In  a  word,  we  are  having  and  enjoying  a  fine 
May  morning.     On  shore,  I  doubt   not,  the  temperature  is 

like  that  of   a    Kew  England  eTune AVe    are   just    off 

Fortress  Monroe,  one  mile  distant.  The  wind  is  blowing 
very  fiercely  right  in  our  teeth,  and  has  blown  our  trysail  all 
to  pieces,  just  over  our  heads.  The  sailors  are  trying  to 
brail  it.  We  passed  several  large  war  steamers,  sixty-gun 
ships,  lying  here,  which  manned  their  rigging  and  gave  us 
three  cheers  as  we  went  by." 

After  a  little  delay  at  Fortress  Monroe  to  take  on 
additional  stores,  General  Butler  came  on  board. 
With  him  were  Mrs.  Butler,  Colonel  Dudley,  of  the 
Massachusetts  Thirtieth,  and  others. 

Our  voyage  was  resumed  Tuesday  evening,  Febru- 
ary 25th.  The  sea  was  smooth,  and  everything  went 
on  prosperously  until  Wednesday,  when  in  the  after- 
noon the  wind  freshened  and  the  sea  became  rough. 
General  Butler,  in  his  book,  has  made  reference  to  the 
storm  which  we  encountered  subsequently  to  leaving 


648  KEMINISCENCES 

Hampton  Roads,  and  to  the  imminent  danger  we  were 
in  when  we  grounded  on  Frying  Pan  Shoals.  I  can- 
not do  better  than  to  quote  from  what  I  wrote  on  the 
day  after  that  experience: 

"About  two  in  the  morning  tlie  sea  became  very  rough, 
and  Major  Hesseltine  came  to  my  state-room  door  and  said  I 
had  l)etter  turn  out,  as  matters  seemed  to  him  to  be  going  l)ad- 
ly.  I  asked  him  to  learn  particularly  the  state  of  affairs  and  let 
me  know.  He  returned  directly  and  said  that,. as  nearly  as  he 
could  learn,  the  water  was  getting  into  the  ship,  and  the 
fires  \vould  be  speedily  extinguished." 

That  was  startling  information,  for  certainly  if 
steam  could  not  be  kept  up  the  ship  would  be  entirely 
at  the  mercy  of  the  storm,  which  was  then  raging 
fiercely  and  was  apparently  increasing  in  violence. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  vessel  could  not  last 
long.  What  a  prospect,  with  nearly  sixteen  hundred 
men  on  board!  Nevertheless,  knowing  that  to  men 
unacquainted  with  the  sea  and  with  ships  every 
element  of  danger  seems  greater  than  it  really  is,  I 
determined  to  see  for  myself.  While  I  was  dressing, 
Mr.  Moore,  the  chaplain,  and  the  major  came  in,  and 
we  talked  the  matter  over.  If  the  ship  remained 
tight,  we  decided  that  the  damage  could  not  be  so 
great,  as  she  was  a  staunch  vessel  and  could  endure 
the  storm,  if  properly  handled,  even  without  steam, 
and  we  had,  at  least,  forty  miles  of  leeway  to  the 
coast. 

Because  of  the  storm  progress  in  dressing  was  slow. 
When  finally  I  went  out  into  the  saloon,  the  scene 
was  ludicrous  in  the  extreme,  despite  the  dangers  of 
the  situation.  The  officers  were  assembled  there, 
each  clinging  witli  desperation  to  some  fast  object; 
thus  only  could  they  avoid  being  thrown  about  in 
every  direction.      To  add  to  the  discomforts  of  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  649 

occasion,  every  movable  article  in  the  f^aloon  was 
being  thrashed  from  side  to  side.  The  crockery  was 
crashing,  torrents  of  water  were  pouring  in  through 
the  skylights  overhead,  while  that  already  in  was 
dashing  and  splashing  over  the  floor  with  every  move- 
ment of  the  ship.  Outside  the  wind  was  shrieking 
through  the  rigging,  and  enormous  waves  were  beat- 
ing upon  the  ship,  often  breaking  over  its  decks  with 
great  weight  and  force. 

Meanwhile  the  scene  below,  where  were  quartered 
fourteen  hundred  men,  almost  all  of  them  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  sea,  was  quite  indescribable.  I  clip  here 
from  an  account  written  by  Chaplain  Moore  of  the 
Thirteenth,  a  short  time  after  the  storm,  and  pub- 
lished in  a  Portland  paper: 

"  No  description  can  picture  the  fury  of  the  storm  wliich 
prevailed.  The  winds  screamed,  and  the  waves  roared  and 
dashed  upon  and  over  the  ship  with  furious  force  and  rapid- 
ity. Water  poured  into  the  ship  from  the  deck,  and  throuah 
the  skylights,  wave  upon  wave.  At  one  time  the  water 
threatened  to  extinguish  the  engine  fires,  but  they  were  kept 
free  by  the  utmost  perseverance  and  labor  of  relays  of 
soldiers,  bailing  away  the  water  as  fast  as  it  poured  in.  The 
state-rooms  were  emptied  of  their  occupants,  and  the  cal)in 
filled  with  the  officers  of  the  troops.  In  the  soldiers'  a})art- 
ments,  the  scene  was  indescribable,  some  praying,  some 
cursing,  and  all  in  the  most  awful  suiSpense.  About  3.30  a. 
M.,  of  Thursday,  when  the  gale  seemed  to  have  reached  its 
height,  we  were  all  in  momentary  expectation  of  going  to  the 
bottom.  A  sudden,  and  awful  shock,  as  of  the  vessel  striking 
the  bottom,  brought  every  man,  almost,  to  the  cabin  floor, 
amid  the  cry,  '  She  has  struck !'  Men  seized  each  other.  I 
buttoned  some  mementos  of  home  close  to  my  breast,  and, 
committing  myself  to  God,  awaited  the  result.  God's  good 
providence  was  over  us  with  watchful  care.  We  weathered 
the  night.  The  morning  came  —  the  gale  still  blowing  with 
violence,  and  the  sea  climbing  over  the  sides  and  dashing 
upon  the  deck  of  the  vessel." 


650  REMINISCENCES 

To  add  to  the  noise  and  confusion  below,  some  shot 
and  shell  stored  in  the  after  part  of  the  ship  had 
broken  doAvn  the  partition  which  confined  them, 
and,  rolling  out,  had  displaced  the  stanchions  which 
supported  some  of  the  tiers  of  bunks  of  the  men,  pre- 
cipitating a  mingled  mass  of  soldiers,  boards,  shot  and 
shell  in  the  lower  part  of  the  ship. 

To  this  time  we  landsmen  had  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  vessel,  but  now,  at  the  request  of  General 
Butler,  I  learned  from  her  officers  that  the  water  by 
which  the  furnaces  were  threatened  came  down  the 
hatches  from  the  deck,  and  that  the  fires  would  be  in 
no  danger  if  we  could  secure  the  hatches,  which  were 
large  and  entirely  open,  the  vessel  being  otherwise 
tight.  They  had  been  left  in  that  way  for  purposes  of 
ventilation,  so  many  men  were  packed  below.  Now 
it  was  necessary  to  close  them  and  to  provide  other 
means  of  securing  air.  For  some  reason  the  ship's 
company  could  not  attend  to  this,  and  as  I  informed 
General  Butler  that  there  were  old  sailors  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Thirteenth  Maine  he  requested  me  to  do 
what  seemed  necessary. 

I  sent  an  officer  from  each  of  the  four  companies 
of  the  Thirteenth  into  the  hold  with  orders  to  sum- 
mon every  sailor  among  them  to  the  saloon.  In  a  few 
moments  a  lot  of  sailor-soldiers  appeared,  smiling  and 
jovial,  and  so  cool  and  easy  in  the  midst  of  surround- 
ings so  distressing  to  the  average  landsman  that  they 
were  an  inspiration  of  hope  and  courage  to  all 
around  them.  They  were  all  ready  for  anything 
there  was  for  them  to  do,  and  I  told  them  that  the 
hatches  needed  to  be  secured  to  prevent  shipping  so 
much  water.  ' '  Ay,  Ay,  Sir ! "  they  cheerily  responded, 
and  out  on  the  deck  they  rushed  into  the  midst  of  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  651 

howling  gale  and  dashing  waters,  where  no  land- 
lubber could  have  stood  an  instant.  It  was  not  long 
before  they  reported  to  me  that  the  hatches  were 
secure.  That  relieved  us  of  all  fear  that  the  fires 
under  the  boilers  would  be  extinguished. 

Remembering  now  the  case  of  an  English  steamer, 
on  board  of  which  a  number  of  emigrants  perished  by 
suffocation  under  somewhat  similar  circumstances, 
and  fearing  that  the  soldiers  below,  where  so  many 
were  closely  crowded,  must  suffer  from  want  of  air, 
some  of  my  sailors  from  the  Thirteenth  were  sent 
forward  to  arrange  a  wind-sail  at  one  of  the  hatches 
for  ventilation.  The  next  thing  was  to  relieve  the 
vessel  of  the  large  quantity  of  Avater  already  shipped. 
Again  I  quote  from  the  letter  of  Chaplain  Moore : 

"  The  vessel,  daring  most  of  the  gale,  was  manned  by 
sailors  detached  from  the  Thirteenth  Maine  regiment,  one  of 
whom,  a  Portland    boy,  stood  at  the  wheel  for    nine  hours. 

During  the  excitement  of  the  increasing   gale there 

came  into  the  cabin  fifteen  of  the  most  eager  and  ready 
sailors  you  ever  saw,  the  leader  of  them  saying,  '  Just  show 
us  what's  to  be  done,  and  we  are  the  men  to  do  it ! '  They 
were  instantly  on  deck,  and  in  the  rigging  in  a  trice,  hardly 
awaiting  orders,  but  seeing  at  a  glance  just  what  was  wanteds 
The  mate  of  the  vessel  remarked,  '  You  can't  teach  those  men 
anything.' 

' '  It  was  freely  said  that  under  God's  blessing  the  salvation 
of  the  ship  from  destruction  with  all  her  freight  of  human 
souls  was  due  to  the  promptness,  courage  and  skill  of  those 
Maine  sailors." 

General  Butler  now  asked  my  opinion  of  the  situa- 
tion and  I  replied  that  if  we  had  fuel  enough  I  saw  no 
cause  to  apprehend  shipwreck.  He  replied  that  we 
were  all  right,  for  we  had  eight  days'  coal  on  hand. 
Meanwhile  my  improvised  crew  of  sailors  were  at 
work  freeing  the  ship  of  water.      Among  them  was 


652  REMINISCENCES 

Mr.  William  Gr.  Merrill,  of  Portland,  avIio  liad  had 
an  extensive  experience  at  sea.  At  this  writing  he  is 
mayor  of  Clinton,  Indiana.  At  the  time,  he  wrote 
in  his  diary  the  story  of  the  bailing  of  the  ship, 
from  which  he  has  sent  me  the  following  extracts: 

••'  The  pumps  were  manned,  a  hole  was  cut  through  her 
bulkhead  so  that  a  line  of  men  was  formed  from  the  eno-ine- 
room  up  through  the  cabin,  and  to  the  windows  of  the  lee 
side  of  the  saloon  cabin,  and  it  was  my  position  to  stand  at 
that  window  and  throw  the  water  out  on  deck  as  it  came  up  in 
l)uckets  and  pails  along  a  line  of  eighty  odd  men.  It  was  a 
lal)orious  and  perilous  position  for  all,  for  the  ship  rolled  and 
pitched  in  the  heavy  sea  so  badly  that  at  times  it  was  impos- 
sible to  keep  one's  feet  and  pass  the  buckets  of  water.  In 
spite  of  all  precautions,  out  would  go  the  feet,  and  man,  with 
l)ucket  and  water,  would  go  sprawling  down  the  lee  side,  and 
then,  as  the  ship  righted  and  roiled  the  other  way,  would 
come  down  through  the  line  as  if  he  had  been  shot  out  of  a 
"cannon,  upsetting  every  man  in  his  course.  There  were  some 
laughal)le  scenes  that  night,  notwithstanding  the  peril,  but  all 
worked  with  a  will,  knowing  full  well  that  the  safety  of  the 
.ship  and  the  lives  of  sixteen  hundred  men  depended  upon 
their  work. 

"  The  ship  was  headed  out  to  sea  away  from  the  l)reakers. 
From  my  post  at  the  saloon  deck,  I  could  see  the  long  line  of 
white  caps.  "We  were  so  near  to  them  at  one  time  that  every 
sea  that  broke  over  us  w^as  mixed  with  the  sand  from  the 
bottom.  It  seemed  a  long  time  before  we  began  to  make  any 
headway  either  against  the  wind  and  sea  or  the  water  below, 
but  at  length  the  joyful  news  came  up  that  the  water  was  not 
gaining  on  us,  and  then,  that  in  the  last  hour  we  had  gained 
on  the  water.  About  that  time  I  reported  that  I  had  almost 
lost  sight  of  the  breakers,  and  as  the  ship  got  into  deep  water 
once  more  the  sea  was  not  so  rough,  and  we  had  but  little 
water  on  deck.  It  was  a  long  and  weary  night,  l)ut  with  the 
morning  came  a  calmer  wind  and  sea.  AVe  had  conciuered  the 
Avater  and  bailed  out  the  shij).  Though  tired  and  worn  out 
with  the  work  of  the  long  night,  I  could  not  refrain  from 
throwing  up  my  caj)  and  calling  for  cheers  for  the  bucket  crew 
of  the  Thirteenth  Elaine  that  had  saved  the  ship  —  and  they 
were  <rivcn  with  a  will," 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  653 

To  return  again  to  my  own  diary: 

"In  due  time  came  the  niorninu^  light,  disclosing  to  the 
eyes  of  our  astonished  landsmen  the  world  of  waters  in  wild 
commotion.  We  had  no  Ijreakfast  except  crackers,  cheese, 
etc.,  no  dinner,  but  at  night  the  .sea  became  calmer  and  the 
table  was  set. 

"The  night  after  the  gale  was  quiet  and  the  water  smooth. 
We  went  along  very  nicely,  pleasant  breezes,  a  bright  sun, 
and  Friday  morning  promised  a  charming  day.  At  six  a.  m., 
land  was  discovered  ahead,  and  on  our  starboard  ])ow,  and 
Cape  Fear  light  was  in  full  view,  yet  the  ship  kept  steadily 
on  her  course.  The  ship's  officers  were  on  deck.  Three 
buoys  were  seen,  two  upon  our  starboard  and  one  upon  our 
larboard  bow,  and  yet  the  ship  kept  on. 

"  A  little  after  eight  I  was  told  that  one  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  Thirteenth  Maine  wished  to  speak  to  me.  It  was  one  of 
the  sailors  who  had  been  called  upon  the  night  before,  and  he 
said  that  he  was  familiar  with  that  coast  and  that  we  were  sure 
soon  to  be  aground.  He  had  been  to  the  pilot-house  and  said 
to  the  officer:  'That  is  Cape  Fear. light,  and  Frying  Pan 
Shoal  is  dead  ahearl.  You  will  l^-^  On  there  in  hii^^  an  hour  on 
this  course.  If  you  don't  believe  me,  go  and  j=fe  how  the 
propeller  is  stirring  up  the  sand.'  jb«)t  they  toldvhim,  so  he 
said,  to  mind  his  business.  ,^ 

"I  supposed  that  the  soldier  might  be  uni?0eessarily  alarmed, 
because  I  felt  confident  that  the  ship's  company  knew  its 
course,  but  an  officer  came  into  the  saloon  at  nine  a.  si.  and 
said  that  we  were  aground.  I  hastened  on  deck  and  found 
the  ship  at  rest.  Cape  Fear  light  on  our  starboard  bow,  in 
full  view  about  fifteen  miles  distant,  a  mile  or  two  of  low 
coast,  and  then  all  water  everywhere  else,  with  Frying  Pan 
Shoal  directly  beneath  us.  Though  there  was  no  Avind  and  the 
sea  was  calm,  I  saw  that  the  peril  was  far  greater  than  in  the 
storm.  A  little  wind  and  a  little  sea  would  immediately  beat 
us  to  pieces  and  set  us  all  afioat.  This  might  come  in  a  few 
minutes  or  in  a  few  hours,  but  it  was  sure  to  come  very  soon. 

"  The  ship  was  shamefully  managed  after  we  struck  as  well 
as  before.  In  violation  of  one  of  the  plainest  and  most 
important  nautical  rules,  the  anchor  was  dropped  directly 
under  her  bows,  and  in  '  forging  ahead  '  the  ship  got  a  big  hole 
in  her  bow  made  by  a  fluke  of  the  anchor,  as  any  sailor 
apprentice  could  have  told  would  have  happened.  Much 
precious  time  was  lost  by  indecision  and  ignorance. 


654  REMINISCENCES 

"At  last  one  boat  was  lowered  and  sent  off  sounding  far 
from  the  ship,  to  no  purpose,  till  after  repented  urijing  the 
bow  quarter  1)oats  were  lowered,  and  my  sailor-soldiers  got 
the  two  remaining  boats  off  the  top  of  a  round  house,  where 
they  lay,  bottom  up,  with  no  proper  means  of  getting  them 
off,  but  by  dint  of  hard  work  they  were  got  off  at  last  and 
safely  over  the  side. 

"  It  was  a  wonder  to  all  who  knew  anything  of  ships  where 
the  command  was  all  this  time.  There  was  one  order  I  heard, 
and  only  one,  in  a  quick,  decided  manner,  and  that  was,  '  Let 
go  the  anchor !'  a  command  that  should  not  have  been  given 
at  all.  The  expedients  resorted  to  were  all  temporary  and 
inefficient.  In  that  situation  a  sail  was  discovered,  an 
announcement  that  brought  joy  to  us  all.  A  signal  of  distress 
was  set,  at  first  a  flag,  union  up.  This  mistake  was  discov- 
ered in  a  few  minutes,  and  it  was  reversed.  The  sail  proved 
to  be  a  steamer,  but  she  lay  off  and  would  not  come  near. 
Finally  a  l)oat  was  sent  off  to  her,  when  she  came  cautiously 
on,  feeling  her  way  with  the  lead.  The  hesitation  at  flrst  was 
because  we  were  thouglis  to  be  a  Confederate  hoisting  a  flag  of 
distress  as  a  decoy.  It  was  the  United  States  gunl)oat  Mount 
Vernon. 

"  It  was  .now  deemed  important  to  lighten  our  ship  as  much 
as  possibW  by  the  transference  of  soldiers  to  the  Mount 
Vernon.  As  she  could  accommodate  but  three  hundred,  it 
was  decided  that  the  four  companies  of  the  'Thirteenth  Maine 
should  be  sent.  By  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  wind 
began  to  rise  and  so  did  the  sea,  and  I  got  })er mission  to 
begin  the  work  of  sending  off  our  men.  Every  moment  was 
important.  Until  the  ship  was  lightened  she  could  not  move, 
and  if  we  were  caught  where  we  were  with  any  sea  there 
would  be  no  hope  for  us. 

"  To  ship  our  men  into  the  tossing  boats  alongside  rapidly 
and  safely  was  not  easy.  The  soldiers,  many  of  them,  were 
from  the  interior,  and  had  never  seen  salt  water  before  this 
voyage,  and  to  keep  them  from  hindering  and  delaying  the 
work  by  their  clumsiness  and  timidity  was  a  very  hard  task 
indeed.  General  liutler  wanted  the  men  to  go  with  arms, 
kna])sacks  and  accoutrements  complete,  but  as  the  point  was 
to  lighten  the  ship  as  speedily  as  possible  I  did  not  think  it 
worth  while  to  permit  twenty-six  tons  of  dead  weight  and 
equi})age  to  take  the  place  of  forty  tons  of  living  men,  for 
forty  tons  of  men,  and  more,  unencumbered,  could  embark  in 
the  time  occupied  in  loading  twenty-six  tons  of  dead  weight,. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  655 

especially  as  the  sea  was  now  rough  and  the  wind  had  risen. 
So  I  quietly  had  the  men  put  oft'  everything  hut  their  clothes 
as  they  came  to  the  gangway,' and  in  this  way  relieved  the 
ship  much  more  rapidly,  and  it  proved  a  wise  precaution,  for 
we  had  no  time  to  lose.  Before  this  one  of  our  men  at  the 
Mount  Vernon,  with  knapsack  on,  had  fallen  overboard  and 
having  swam  around  to  the  rudder,  rested  upon  it,  took 
off  his  knapsack,  passed  it  up,  and  then  climbed  up  by  a  rope. 

"  As  all  of  my  regiment  on  the  Mississippi  was  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  Mount  Vernon,  and  as  I  intended  to  remain  on 
the  former,  I  directed  Major  Hesseltine  to  proceed  to  the 
Mount  Vernon.  I  also  sent  our  chaplain  there  to  be  out  of 
harm's  way.  After  my  men  had  all  been  safely  transferred, 
which  was  before  it  became  dark.  General  Butler  advised  me 
to  follow,  but  I  declined,  believing  that  I  could  be  of  more 
assistance  where  I  was. 

"  While  I  had  been  occupied  with  superintending  the  trans- 
fer of  the  soldiers,  Acting-Master  Henry  L.  Sturgis,  of  the 
Mount  Vernon,  with  an  assistant,  had  been  making  prepara- 
tions to  get  the  Mississippi  off  the  shoal,  an  undertaking 
which  for  a  long  time  seemed  doubtful.  A  large  hawser  had 
been  stretched  from  the^  Mount  Vernon  and  made  fast  to  the 
Mississippi,  that  the  formei.  might  help  to  get  the  latter  off 
when  sufficiently  lightened  and  the  tide  should  serve. 

"  At  five  P.M.,  the  steamer  moved  a  little  and  thumped 
several  times,  but  not  very  hard,  with  the  roughening  sea. 
The  last  three  boats  had  just  been  loaded  with  my  men,  and 
had  there  been  more  to  go  the  movement  of  the  ship  must 
have  suspended  that  work,  so  I  immediately  went  forward  to 
the  pilot-house  to  watch  the  progress  of  events.  The  sailing- 
master  of  the  Mount  Vernon  was  in  charge  there,  while  a 
man  was  in  the  chains  with  a  lead  to  ascertain  if  the  ship 
moved,  and  how  much. 

"  The  sailing-master  now  ordered  the  engine  to  be  put  into 
full  action.  While  he  kept  his  eye  upon  the  line  the  ship 
must  take,  if  any,  I  watched  the  man  in  the  chains  repeating 
to  the  sailing-master  the  reports  of  the  leadsman  of  the  result 
of  his  constant  soundings.  But  the  water  steadily  deepened 
upon  the  whole,  though  there  were  many  variations.  We 
moved  steadily,  however,  until  we  got  clear  of  the  danger, 
when  I  began  to  attend  to  our  boats,  six  in  number,  which 
were  out,  and  it  was  now  quite  dark. 

"  Two  of  these  were  heavily  laden  with  soldiers  whom  they 
could  not  take  on  the  Mount  Vernon.     They  were  landsmen, 


656  REMINISCENCES 

all  unaccustomed  to  such  experiences.  We  got  a  lantern  up 
at  our  peak  to  pfuide  our  boats,  and  lay  to,  to  allow  them  to 
come  up,  which  the}^  found  it  difficult  to  do,  as  the  wind  and 
tide  were  very  hard  in  their  teeth,  and  their  oarsmen  were 
very  tired.  Such  a  time  as  we  had  of  it !  The  ship's  crew^ 
were  all  busy  al^out  their  own  affairs,  and  there  were  far  too 
few  of  them  for  that,  and  as  all  my  sailor  soldiers  had  lieen 
taken  away  from  me  to  help  work  the  ship  the  landlubbers 
w^ere  left  to  themselves.  By  that  time  I  had  established  a 
reputation  as  somewhat  of  a  '  salt,'  but  I  w^as  altogether  too 
fresh  for  such  work  as  I  had  that  awful  day. 

"The  first  ])oat  came,  a  rope  was  thrown,  caught,  and  the 
boat  danced  and  jumped  up  to  the  ladder.  Another  boat  came 
up,  and  was  ordered  to  catch  the  first  boat  and  hold  on, 
being  careful  not  to  stave,  as  the  sea  was  now  quite  rough. 
Another  boat  came  and  did  the  same,  and  now'  we  had  three 
—  two  of  them  filled  with  men — and  a  hard  time  we  had  of 
it  to  get  these  men  from  those  jumping  boats  in  the  dark,  as 
they  could  not  stand  in  such  uneasy  craft,  and  were  obliged 
to  creep,  while  strong  eiforts  were  necessary  to  keep  the  boats 
from  staving. 

"  Finally,  and  in  good  time  and  ^ifety,  the  men  and  the 
boats  were  all  taken  up.  AVe  had  how  a  general  handshaking 
among  the  officers,  and  heartfelt  congratulations  at  our 
escape,  which  vividly  seemed  to  us  to  have  been  l\v  direct 
interposition  of  a  kind  and  merciful  Providence.  We  kept  on 
now  in  the  wake  of  the  Mount  Vernon,  guided  by  her  lights, 
and  about  ten  p.  m.,  came  to  anchor  with  our  consort  at  the 
mouth  of  Cape  Fear  river." 

Some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  inexperience 
of  landsmen  in  sucli  matters,  but  it  was  my  own 
solemn  conviction  at  the  time,  and  I  have  never 
changed  it  since,  that,  under  God,  the  service  ren- 
dered, both  at  the  time  of  the  storm  and  the 
shipwreck,  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Thirteenth  Maine 
contributed  most  materially  to  the  saving  of  the 
Mississippi  with  her  freight  of  nearly  sixteen  hun- 
dred men.     I  wrote  to  my  family  at  the  time: 

"As  to  the  imminent  dangers  we  have  encountered  and 
escaped  I  think  the  general  feeling  is,  even  among  undevout 


OF    ^^EAL    DOAV.  657 

men,  that  our  safety  was  due  solely  to  the  irraeious  and  direct 
interposition  of  a  kind  and  merciful  Providence,  but  there 
has  heen  no  adeciuate  expression  of  gratitude  on  board  ship. 
At  our  first  meal  after  our  escape  i'roni  the  shoal  I  spoke  to 
a  chaplain  about  availino-  himself  of  the  occasion  and  giving 
thanks  for  our  great  deliverance,  but  he  did  not.  I  do  not 
see  how  a  clergyman  with  heart  and  brains  could  justify 
himself  for  such  omission." 

After  we  came  to  anchor  off  Cape  Fear,  General 
Butler  appointed  a  board  of  survey  upon  the  Missis- 
sippi.    The  board  subsequently  reported  as  follows: 

"  Steamship  Mississippi,  ^ 

At  Anchor  off  Cape  Fear,  N.  C.  > 

March  1,   1862.  ) 

"  General:  —  In  obedience  to  your  orders,  the  undersigned 
appointed  by  you  a  board  of  survey  to  ascertain  the  condi- 
tion of  the  ship  and  her  ability  to  continue  the  voyage  on 
which  she  is  bound,  have  attended  to  that  duty,  and  have  the 
honor  to  report :  ^-^ 

"  That  on  examining  the  ship  they  find  a  very  formidable 
leak  on  her  port  1)0 w,  made  by  ihe  anchor  wdiich  was  dropped 
wdien  she  went  on  the  shoals.  The  quantity  of  water  passing 
by  this  leak  is  very  large,  so  that  very  soon  after  the  fracture 
was  made  the  water  in  the  forward  compartment  rose  to  the 
level  of  the  external  water.  A  large  fatigue  party  was 
arranged  with  frequent  reliefs,  aided  by  a  deck  pump  worked 
by  twelve  men,  the  bailing  and  pumping  continued  without 
intermission  for  twenty  hours,  by  which  the  water  has  not 
been  much,  if  at  all,  reduced  below  its  original  height,  and 
cannot  be  by  any  means  at  the  command  of  the  ship,  or  the 
military  force  on  l)oard.  The  valves  communicating  between 
the  forward  compartment  and  the  steam-pumps  cannot  be 
opened,  as  these  are  required  to  keep  the  furnaces  free  from 
water  having  access  to  them  by  other  leakages,  the  nature  of 
wdiich  the  undersigned  have  no  means  of  ascertaining. 

"The  bailing  and  pumping  have  been  carried  on  in  smooth 
water,  with  the  ship  on  an  even  keel,  and  the  former  could 
not  be  continued  at  all  in  a  heavy  sea. 

' '  The  quartermaster  reports  to  us  that  we  have  only  an 
allow^ance  of  bread  for  five  days,  and  our  other  provisions,  he 
thinks,  are  under  water  forward. 


658  KEMINISCENCES 

"In  view  of  these  facts,  the  undersigned  have  formed  the 
opinion  unanimously  and  most  unqualifiedly  that  the  shij)  is 
not  in  a  condition  to  continue  her  voyage,  except  to  a  near 
port,  and  that  only  under  convoy  of  a  ship  which  could  render 
us  any  needed  assistance,  or  could  cover  us  with  her  guns,  if 
we  should  l)e  compelled  to  abandon  the  steamer,  and  make  a 
landing  on  a  hostile  coast. 

"  The  undersigned  have  been  forced  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  expedient  to  make  the  attem)3t  to  reach  another  anchor- 
age, our  present  position  l)eing  an  open  roadstead,  where  the 
ship  cannot  lie  in  a  southeast  gale.         Most  respectfully, 
Your  obedient  servant, 
Neal  Dow,  Col.  13th  Maine  Reg.  Vol. 
Henry  L.  Sturgis,  Acting-Master  U.  S.  ^. 
Cardinal  H.  Conant,  Caj)t.  31st  Reg.  Mass.  Vol.'" 

This  report  General  Butler  sent  to  Captain  Glisson, 
of  the  Mount  Vernon,  with  the  following  note: 

"Headquarters  Expeditionary  Corps,  ^ 
On  Board  Ste\mer  Mississippi,  > 
Off  Cape  Fear,  N.  C,  March  1,  1862.  ) 
Commander  O.  S.  Glisson.  U.  S.  Navy. 

Sir: — I  respectfully  rec^uest  that  you  will,  in  view  of  the 
disabled  condition  of  this  ship,  accompany  us  with  the  Mount 
Vernon  as  a  convoy  to  Port  Boyal,  S.  C,  or  to  such  other 
point  intermediate  as  may  liereafter  be  decided  upon. 
I  am,  Sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Benj.  F.  Butler,  Major  General. 
P.  S.     I  send  herewith  copy  of  report  of  board  of  survey, 
this  day  convened  Ijv  my  order. 

B.  F.  Butler." 

To  thiy  request  Cai)tain  Glisson  assented,  and  also 
detailed  from  his  ship  Acting-Master  Henry  L.  Sturgis 
to  take  charge  of  the  Mississippi. 

At  our  anchorage  off  Cape  Fear  we  were  near  Fort 
Caswell,  on  which  at  daylight  the  Confederate  flag 
was  in  full  sight  —  and  such  a  galloping  about  as 
there  was  of  horsemen  and  hurried  driving  here  and 
there  of  wagons,  and  such  colunuis  of  smoke  as  were 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  (359 

made  to  rise  as  signals  were  all  very  agreeable  to  see. 
It  indicated  that  while  we  were  very  much  troubled 
with  our  crippled  condition  so  near  a  hostile  shore, 
they  were  alarmed  by  our  proximity  to  them.  It  was 
a  case  where  both  sides  desired  to  be  let  alone. 

They  took  us,  no  doubt,  to  be  a  man-of-war,  full  of 
troops,  and  supposed  that  it  was  our  intent  to  shell 
them  out  of  their  mud  fort  and  then  to  occupy  it 
ourselves.  They  did  not  know  that  we  were  a  dis- 
tressed body  of  castaways,  in  a  ship  with  the  forward 
compartment  filled  with  water,  that  we  were  two  feet 
down  by  the  head,  with  a  list  of  two  streaks  to  port, 
and  that  we  were  in  no  condition  to  fight  even  a  fish- 
ing smack  armed  with  a  rifled  twelve-pounder. 

We  were  well  off,  considering  where  we  had  been, 
but  they  could  hardly  have  expected  that  we  had  run 
uix)n  Frying  Pan  Shokiihin  broad  day  and  a  clear  sun, 
with  a  lighthouse  in  plain  sight,  and  two  buoys  in 
full  view  marking  out  the  channel.  That  shore  is  as 
well  known  to  all  good  seamen  as  is  Faneuil  Hall  to 
Bostonians;  in  fact,  in  being  there  we  were  a  hundred 
miles  out  of  our  way. 

Our  Confederate  neighbors  were  evidently  relieved, 
as  we  were  not,  when  the  Mount  Vernon  went  off  sea- 
ward out  of  view.  But  the  sensation  was  reversed 
when  in  a  few  hours  she  returned  with  an  English 
schooner  in  toAV  which  she  had  caught  trying  to  run 
the  blockade.  The  prize  was  loaded  with  coffee,  salt, 
sugar  and  fruit. 

After  the  report  of  the  board  of  inquiry  referred  to 
we  proceeded  to  Port  Royal  under  convoy  of  the 
Mount  Vernon.  When  off  Charleston  the  Mount  Ver- 
non was  two  miles  in  our  wake,  and  one  of  the 
blockading  vessels,  evidently  supposing  her  to  be  pur- 


660  REMINISCENCES 

suing  us,  started  and  came  down  upon  us  to  cut  us  off, 
but  when  near  enough  to  see  what  we  were  sheered 
off  and  waited  for  our  protecting  gunboat  to  come  up. 

Arriving  at  Port  Royal  we  disembarked,  and  a 
hard  time  we  had.  However,  the  work  was  finally 
accomplished  with  the  aid  of  some  boat  crews  sent  to 
our  assistance  from  a  man-of-war.  I  appropriated  for 
the  use  of  my  men  a  long,  low  shed,  newly  built  by 
the  government  for  the  storage  of  hay.  It  was  only 
a  roof  set  up  on  posts,  with  poles  for  a  floor.  We 
arranged  the  bales  of  hay  in  a  rampart  on  the  wind- 
ward side  —  a  stiff  gale  was  blowing,  with  a  little  rain 
—  then,  covering  the  pole  floor  with  boards,  we  had  a 
palace. 

We  had  hardly  more  than  anchored  there  when  a 
sutler's  schooner  came  alongside  the  Mississippi  with 
liquor  to  sell.  I  sent  a  soldiervr  ^i  board  to  ascertain  if 
liquor  was  for  sale  there,  and,'  finding  that  to  be  the 
case,  despatched  an  officer  with  my  compliments  to  the 
captain,  and  the  message  that  if  he  sold  any  liquor  at 
all  I  would  have  him  tied  to  our  masthead.  There 
was  no  trouble  from  that  source. 

While  at  Port  Royal,  a  son  of  Noah  Smith,  of 
Calais,  Me.,  called  upon  me.  He  told  me  that  there 
were  two  men  in  prison  and  in  irons  there  for  selling 
liquor.  One  was  the  captain  of  a  large,  fine  bark 
lying  there,  the  other  the  consignee.  This  imprison- 
ment was  by  order  of  General  Sherman,  who  would 
not  j)ermit  liquor  to  be  sold  where  he  commanded. 

We  left  Port  Royal  on  the  13th  of  March.  Mean- 
while I  had  been  transferred  with  the  four  companies 
of  the  Thirteenth  Maine  to  the  steamer  Matanzas. 
She  was  not  as  good  a  ship  as  the  Mississippi,  but  she 
had  a  more  careful  and  competent  captain.     After  we 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  661 

left  her,  the  unfortunate,  or  ill-commanded,  Missinsippi 
got  aground  once  more.  It  may  be  noted,  by  the  way, 
that  afterwards  the  unlucky  craft  got  into  trouble  at 
Ship  Island.  In  a  gale  she  ran  amuck  among  the 
shipping  there  and  smashed  things  up  in  fearful  style. 
The  superstitiously  inclined  attributed  it  to  her  being- 
launched  on  Friday.  Certain  it  was  that  she  sailed 
on  a  Friday  from  Boston,  was  upon  Frying  Pan  Shoals 
on  a  Friday,  and  had  her  trouble  at  Ship  Island  on  a 
Friday. 

I  found  that  Captain  Liesegang,  of  the  Matanzas, 
was  a  man  after  my  own  heart  on  the  subject  of 
liquor.  He  would  not  tolerate  it  on  his  ship.  He 
said  that  he  once  saw  in  mid-ocean  an  English  vessel 
flying  a  signal  of  distress.  He  bore  down  upon  her 
and  hove  tp,  supposing  she  was  suffering  for  want  of 
food  or  water,  or  fi\m  some  other  great  calamity. 
But  no,  a  boat  was  put  off  to  his  ship,  to  beg,  or  bor- 
row or  buy  some  whiskey.  Their  supply  had  been 
exhausted  three  days  before,  and  they  could  stand  the 
abstinence  no  longer.  He  told  them  that  he  had  no 
whiskey,  never  carried  any,  but  could  give  them  a 
better  article,  whereat  the  boarding-officer  was  very 
profuse  in  his  thanks,  supposing  that  it  must  at  least 
be  brandy.  He  was  much  disgusted  when  Captain 
Liesegang  returned  from  his  cabin  with  a  bundle  of 
tracts,  telling  John  Bull  he  would  find  them  better 
than  whiskey. 

The  evening  before  our  departure  from  Port  Eoyal 
an  officer  from  General  Butler  came  on  board,  accom- 
panied by  the  captain  of  the  Mississippi,  and  said  that 
he  desired  to  speak  to  me  privately.  He  put  an  order 
in  my  hands  from  the  General,  committing  the  captain 
to  my  care,  with  instructions  not  to  permit  him  to 

i3 


662  EEMINISCENCES    OF   NEAL    DOW. 

leave  the  ship.  Many  rumort^  were  in  circulation  as 
to  the  cause  of  the  mishap  which  befell  the  Missis- 
sippi under  his  charge,  and  while  I  fully  approved  of 
deposing  the  captain  I  regretted  that  he  was  placed 
in  my  keeping.  In  explanation  of  the  grounding  on 
Frying  Pan  Shoals  he  said  that  the  rifles  of  the 
soldiers  on  the  ship  had  affected  the  compasses  so 
much  as  to  change  her  course.  That  was  possible, 
but  when  he  found  himself  one  hundred  miles  out 
of  his  reckoning,  and  Cape  Fear  light  directly  before 
him  in  broad  day,  with  the  edge  of  a  shoal  under 
foot,  the  rifles  did  not  compel  him  to  keep  on,  and 
could  not  have  prevented  him  from  stopping  short 
and  sounding,  as  he  should  have  done. 

I  found  Captain  Liesegang  a  true  sailor,  vigilant 
and  intelligent  in  his  profession,  though  his  oppor- 
tunities for  obtaining  knowl,fAge  outside  of  that 
had  been  limited.  We  found  to  our  great  advantage 
that  he  liked  a  good  table,  and  nothing  was  lacking 
in  that  particular. 

On  the  Matanzas  there  was  room  and  opportunity 
for  re-establishing  discipline  and  enforcing  rules  as 
to  keeping  the  arms  and  equipments  in  order.  In  a 
day  or  two  the  rifles,  which  had  become  badly  rusted 
from  their  exposure  and  neglect  on  the  Mississippi, 
were  in  perfect  condition,  and  everything  else  was 
speedily  set  to  rights. 

We  arrived  at  Ship  Island  on  the  20th  of  March, 
my  birthday,  and  found  the  other  six  companies  of 
the  regiment  there,  they  having  had  a  passage  with- 
out unusual  incident. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


IN   CAMP   AT   SHIP   ISLAND.         MY    ANTISLAVEKY   SYMPATHIES 
AND   POLICY.         EMPLOYMENT   OF   NEGROES   AS   SOL- 
DIERS..       HOSTILITY    TO    ME    EXCITED    BY 
MY   OBSERVANCE   OF   ARMY    REG- 
ULATIONS AS  TO  LIQUOR. 


We  Avent  into  camp  at  Ship  Island  as  soon  as 
possible  after  our  arrival.  Soon  after  I  landed 
General  Butler  sent  for  me,  and  we  had  a  very 
pleasant  interview,  far  different  from  that  at  For- 
tress Monroe  when  he  first  came  on  board  the 
Mississippi.  This  is  what  I  wrote  at  the  time  of 
our  meeting  at  Ship  Island: 

"  General  Butler  was  very  courteous  and  polite,  asking  my 
opinion  and  professing  to  defer  to  my  judgment.  He  asked  me 
if  I  would' be  willing  to  go  to  Galveston  with  Captain  Fulton 
in  command.  I  said  yes,  especially  if  Captain  Sturgis  (the 
sailing-master  of  the  Mount  Vernon)  could  go  as  adviser. 
The  General  replied  that  he  would  not  be  willing  to  go  with 
him  as  captain,  but  he  would  be  willing  to  go  with  me  as 
captain.  If  he  was  sincere,  1  must  have  inspired  him  with 
confidence  at  the  time  of  the  Frying  Pan  Shoals  incident.  If 
he  was  not  sincere,  I  do  not  know^  what  motive  he  may  have 
for  endeavoring  to  please  me  with  such  a  remark." 

There  was  nothing  to  do  except  to  prepare  my 
regiment  as  fully  as  possible  for  whatever  duty  it 


664  REMINISCENCES 

might  be  called  upon  to  perform.  In  this  work 
my  efforts  were  so  heartily  seconded  by  the  field 
and  most  of  the  line  officers  that  the  Thirteenth 
became  marked  for  the  perfection  of  its  drill,  the 
thoroughness  of  its  discipline,  the  cleanliness  and 
good  order  of  its  camp  and  the  excellent  morale 
of  its  men.  It  goes  without  saying  that  there 
was,  to  my  knowledge,  no  drunkenness  in  my 
regiment. 

On  the  28th  of  March,  1862,  General  Butler  issued 
the  following  order: 

"Headquarters  Department  of  the  Gulf,  > 
Ship  Island,  March  28,   1862.  5 
General  Orders  No.   7. 

It  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  comnianding-genoral 
that,  notwithstanding  all  his  efforts  to  prevent  the  introduc- 
tion of  intoxicating  liquors  into  this  island  and  among  his 
command  to  l)e  used  as  a  beverage,  we  are  still  followed  by 
this  curse  of  the  army.  Forbidden  by  every  regulation,  pro- 
hibited by  official  authority,  condemned  by  experience,  it 
still  clings  to  the  soldier,  although  more  deadly  in  this  climate 
than  the  rifle.  All  sales,  therefore,  in  this  department  will  be 
punished  by  immediate  expulsion  of  the  party  offending,  if  a 
civilian,  by  court  martial  if  an  officer  or  soldier.  All  intoxi- 
cating liquors  kept  for  sale  or  to  be  used  as  a  beverage  will 
be  seized  and  destroyed  or  confiscated  to  hospital  uses. 
By  command  of  Major-General  Butler, 

Geo.  C.   Strong,  A.  A.    General.^' 

In  a  letter  of  the  same  date,  commenting  on  that 
order,  I  wrote,  "In  other  regiments  there  has  been 
some  intoxication,  to  what  extent  I  do  not  know, 
but  in  the  Thirteenth  Maine  not  a  single  case." 
The  army  regulations  on  this  point  were  all  the 
more  easily  enforced  in  its  ranks  because  of  the 
cordial  co-operation  of  my  officers,  and  also,  Avith- 
out  doubt,  because  the  men  were  confident  that 
there  were  no  private  supplies  of    liquor  for    their 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  665 

commander.  The  same  was  true  almost  to  the  same 
extent  as  to  profanity,  of  which  there  was  very  little. 
That,  too,  was  prohibited  by  the  regulations,  and 
I  insisted  on  the  observance  of  the  rule.  I  had  had 
occasion  on  the  Matanzas  to  reprove  a  sergeant  of 
one  of  my  companies  for  that  vice,  and  had  improved 
the  opportunity  to  call  the  attention  of  my  command 
to  the  army  regulations  and  to  convince  them  that 
the  offense  would  not  be  lightly  overlooked.  Here, 
too,  the  officers  of  the  Thirteenth  generally  aided 
in  setting  a  good  example,  and  in  other  ways  making- 
it  easy  to  enforce  the  rule.  The  following  quotation 
is  from  a  letter  written  to  my  home  on  the  l7th  of 
May,  1862: 

' '  The  naval  and  military  service  of  every  country  in  time 
of  war  is  corrupting  to  both  officers  and  men  engaged  in  it, 
and  must  always  be  so.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  regiment 
in  the  world  where  the  influences  are  better  than  in  the  Thir- 
teenth Maine,  where  the  officers  generally  set  a  better 
example  and  in  which  there  are  fewer  men  of  lax  morals  and 
manners.  At  a  court  martial  lately  where  were  present  seven 
colonels,  I  remarked  that  I  had  never  heard  a  profane  word 
from  any  of  my  officers,  that  I  never  permitted  a  profane 
word  in  my  hearing  from  any  soldier  without  reproof  and 
rebuke,  and  that  lately  I  had  heard  none  at  all.  The  man 
from  whom  I  last  heard  profanity  I  ordered  to  stand  on  a 
barrel  head  one  hour  as  a  ])unishnient,  and  I  have  heard  none 
since.  One  colonel  remarked  that  it  would  require  all  the 
barrels  on  the  island  to  accommodate  the  swearers  in  his 
regiment.  Perhaps  the  headquarters' example  was  not  what  it 
should  be." 

Of  course  I  did  not  swear,  and  made  it  a  point 
never  to  speak  to  any  officer  or  man  with  abusive 
tone  or  manner.  If  there  was  occasion  to  correct 
an  officer,  it  was  always  done  quietly  and  privately, 
and  that  rule  I  required  other  officers  in  my  regiment 
to  observe  in  all    their  dealings  with  the  soldiers. 


666  REMINISCENCES 

The  self-respect  of  officers  and  men  was  thus  pre- 
served, and,  as  a  result,  everything  was  more  orderly 
and  soldierly  than  was  the  case  in  some  regiments 
where  nearly  every  word  of  command  to  a  subor- 
dinate was  given  in  an  insulting  manner,  while 
necessary  correction  or  reproof  was  administered 
in  a  coarse,  brutal  way,  accompanied  with  volleys 
of  oaths.  Nevertheless,  I  was  very  particular  to 
maintain  discipline  as  exact  and  punctilious  as  in  the 
regulars.  This  is  not  easy  among  volunteers  not 
likely  to  recognize  the  importance  of  little  things, 
and  who  are  soldiering  temporarily,  hoping  and 
expecting  the  war  soon  to  end  that  they  may  return 
to  their  vocations. 

On  one  occasion  I  woke  at  night  and  found  it 
raining.  Seeing  no  sentinel  at  his  accustomed  post, 
I  investigated  and  learned  that  the  officer  of  the 
guard  had  called  in  all  the  sentries  when  it  com- 
menced to  rain,  and  the  entire  camp  was  unguarded. 
That  struck  me  as  being  so  comical  that  I  could  not 
control  my  laughter  sufficiently  to  scold  at  a  blunder 
gross  enough  certainly  to  call  for  severe  reproof. 
And  yet  reference  to  another  of  my  letters,  under 
date  of  July  1,  1862,  shows  that  I,  too,  could  relax 
in  discipline  when  it  seemed  safe  to  do  so. 

"  This  afternoon  we  had  a  rain  squall.  Oh,  how  black  it 
was  !  How  it  blew,  and  how  it  did  rain  !  I  called  my  senti- 
nel in  under  the  shelter  of  my  '  fly.'  I  wonder  what  Mr. 
Russell,  of  the  Timefi,  would  say  to  that.  He  would  make  a 
laugh  out  of  it,  at  the  unmilitary  fashions  of  the  Yankees. 
It  isn't  a  fashion  at  all.  I  suppose  no  general  ever  did  it 
before,  and  yet,  away  oflf  here,  not  in  the  face  of  an  enemy,  I 
did  it  as  so  much  toward  preservint;  the  health  of  the  man. 
It  is  said  of  Washington  that  durinir  the  terrible  winter  at 
Valley  Forge  he  came  out  one  cold  morning  alter  l)reakfast 
and  asked  his  sentinel  if  he  had  breakfasted.     '  No,  General,' 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  667 

was  the  answer.  '  Go  in,  my  good  fellow,  and  Mrs.  Wa.sh- 
ington  will  give  you  a  warm  breakfast,  and  let  me  have  your 
musket  and  stand  guard  awhile  ! '  And  he  did.  I  have  been 
in  the  house  where  this  occurred,  and  stood  on  the  broad  door- 
stone  where  Washington  acted  as  sentry  before  his  own  quar- 
ters. Many  offers  have  been  made  for  the  purchase  of  that 
stone,  but  the  owner  values  it  above  money." 

Every  evening  at  dress  parade,  so  long  as  I  remained 
with  the  regiment,  there  were  religious  exercises, 
singing  and  prayers  before  the  parade  was  dismissed. 
This  was  doubtless  irksome  to  some,  but  on  the  whole 
it  had  an  excellent  effect.  I  was  anxious  to  show, 
and  did  so  to  my  satisfaction,  that  brutality,  coarse- 
ness, drunkenness,  profanity  and  other  vices  common 
in  camp  life  were  not  necessary  to  make  good  soldiers. 
Meanwhile  the  strictest  attention  was  also  paid  to  all 
the  ordinary  routine  of  a  well-ordered  camp. 

During  my  stay  on  Ship  Island  there  was  not  much 
else  to  do,  and  all  my  time  that  could  be  spared  from 
the  details  of  the  work  required  to  accomplish  this 
was  devoted  to  the  study  of  military  works,  to  writing 
letters  for  publication  in  Great  Britain  for  the  purpose 
already  alluded  to,  and  to  correspondence  with  my 
family.  My  sojourn  here  extended  from  the  20th  of 
March  to  the  12th  of  July,  and  almost  every  evening, 
from  supper  to  bedtime,  was  given  to  such  work. 
Every  day  we  had  ' '  news  " —  we  knew  not  from  where 
—  of  more  or  less  consequence.  It  is  a  matter  for 
astonishment,  not  that  we  got  so  little  reliable 
information  as  to  what  had  really  been  done  by  our 
comrades  in  arms  in  other  departments,  but  that  so 
many  rumors  of  important  events  should  get  credence 
among  us. 

Two  or  three  times  prior  to  my  departure  from  the 
island  the  whole    camp  was  alive  with    the   joyful 


668  REMINISCENCES 

expectation  of  a  speedy  termination  of  the  war, 
based  upon  the  reported  capture  of  Richmond  and 
other  serious  Confederate  reverses.  So  convinced 
were  we  of  the  truth  of  those  reports,  that  on  the  20th 
of  May,  1862,  the  day  after  receiving  my  commission 
as  brigadier-general,  I  wrote: 

"  I  had  thought  very  little  about  my  nomination  as  such,  as 
I  supposed  there  might  be  doubt  about  the  continuation,  since 
the  war  is  so  nearly  ended." 

There  was  opportunity  at  Ship  Island  to  give 
prominence,  in  a  small  way,  to  the  antislavery 
character  and  effect  of  the  war,  and  this  some 
time  before  the  administration  came  to  view  it  in 
that  light.  Negroes  were  constantly  escaping  to 
my  camp  from  the  mainland,  and  were  always 
kindly  received.  Places  were  found  for  them  where 
they  could  be  of  service  to  us  and  earn  something 
for  themselves.  On  one  occasion,  at  Pass  Christian, 
just  as  our  boat,  in  which,  with  six  companies  of  the 
"Thirteenth,"  I  was  making  an  excursion,  touched 
the  wharf,  a  negro  came  running  to  our  steamer 
at  the  top  of  his  speed,  chased  by  his  "massa." 
The  former  jumped  on  board;  not  so  the  latter, 
who  turned  back,  leaving  the  negro,  thenceforth, 
to  all  intents,   dead  to  him,   in  our  hands. 

On  another  occasion,  at  Pass  Christian,  I  was 
sitting  on  a  veranda  with  several  prominent  citizens 
as  my  regiment  passed.  The  soldiers  were  accom- 
panied by  a  negro  who  had  escaped  to  Ship  Island 
from  that  place  but  a  day  or  two  before.  One  of 
the  gentlemen  noticed  him  and  said:  "That  is  Mr. 
So-and-so's  boy.  It  is  aggravating  to  see  him  there." 
"Yes,"  I  said,  "it  must  be  very  vexatious."  "Now, 
won't  you  give  him  up  ?    It  would  have  an  excellent 


OF    NEAL   DOW.  669 

effect,  and  show  the  people  that  the  war  is  not  really 
for  abolition,  as  they  now  believe,  and  as  tliis  inci- 
dent will  assure  them  that  it  is."  "No,  I  cannot 
give  him  up,  as  there  is  no  law  for  it.  The  fugitive 
slave  law  provides  for  the  recovery  of  slaves  escaping 
from  one  state  to  another,  which  does  not  cover  this 
case."  "Yes,  but  we  have  laws  covering  the  cases 
of  all  escaped  slaves."  "That  is  true,  but  I  owe  no 
allegiance  to  Mississippi  laws,  and  am  here  in  con- 
travention of  them."  "Well,  General  Butler  has 
surrendered  several  slaves  who  have  escaped  to  his 
camp."  "  So  I  hear,  but  he  is  a  major-general,  and 
can  venture  to  take  responsibilities  that  I  cannot." 

My  visit  to  Pass  Christian  was  occasioned  by  a 
report  that  some  of  its  citizens  had  been  seriously 
maltreated  for  bringing  fruits  and  vegetables  to  sell 
to  us  at  Ship  Island,  and  some  for  only  speaking  to 
our  officers  and  soldiers.  In  a  little  meeting  in  a 
grove,  I  spoke  to  them  from  an  Indian  mound  —  the 
same  spot  on  which  General  Taylor  made  the  only 
speech  of  his  life  —  and  warned  them  very  clearly 
and  emphatically  that  there  must  be  no  repetition 
of  such  an  offense,  and  that  no  man  would  be  per- 
mitted by  me  to  suffer  at  their  hands  for  his  Union 
sympathies.  The  result  was  a  very  earnest  promise 
of  better  conduct.  It  had  its  effect,  for  a  few  days 
after  our  vegetable  man  came  and  said  he  was  not 
molested  there  and  that  he  would  continue  to  supply 
us. 

All  my  antislavery  convictions  were  strengthened, 
and  all  my  natural  sympathies  for  the  slaves  were 
aroused  by  incidents  which  were  constantly  occur- 
ring. From  a  letter  before  me  written  on  the  21st 
of  June,  1862,  I  quote: 


670  REMINISCENCES 

"A  nesro,  about  twenty-five  years  old,  came  in  to-day 
from  Mobile.  He  worked  his  way  to  Biloxi,  a])out  seventy 
miles,  there  got  a  little  dugout,  hardly  larger  than  a  l)read- 
trough,  with  two  little  oars,  and  in  it  he  came  over  the  bay, 
fourteen  miles,  to  us.  The  wind  came  up  high.  It  was  in 
the  night,  and  the  waves  rose.  He  was  guided  by  a  star. 
His  boat  overturned,  he  lost  his  oars,  and,  in  the  confusion, 
lost  also  his  star.  After  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  he  got  the 
water  out  of  his  boat,  crawled  in  again  and  paddled  with  his 
hands.     That  is  all. 

"  He  came  to  my  office,  wet,  tired,  but  so  bright  and  glad. 
He  is  a  very  happy  darkey.  They  threatened  to  hang  him 
because  of  his  loyal  sympathies,  and  he  determined  to  join 
the  Yankees.  Straight  as  an  arrow,  lithe  as  a  leopard,  he  is 
quite  able  to  take  good  care  of  himself.  He  told  me  that  he 
had  been  a  wagoner  for  the  Confederates  and  was  at  Cor- 
inth at  the  l)attlc.  If  he  were  a  white  man,  and  had  done 
all  this  for  lil)erty,  he  would  be  lionized  as  a  hero. 

"  Alone  in  the  dark,  on  a  stormy  sea,  ignorant  of  the  way, 
in  a  craft  no  better  than  a  watering-trough,  overset  by  the 
boisterous  waves,  clinging  to  his  little  shallop,  struggling 
successfully  to  free  it  from  the  water,  paddling  with  his  hands 
for  liberty  —  whither  God  only  knew,  as  he  had  lost  the  star 
—  wet,  weary  and  doubting;  overturned  the  second  time, 
now  struggling  for  his  life;  successful  once  more  in  righting 
his  tiny  craft  and  getting  the  water  out,  and  now,  aided  by 
the  coming  day,  he  reaches  his  desired  haven,  paddling  all  the 
wdiile  WMth  his  hands.  If  a  white  man  had  done  so  nmch,  or 
half,  he  would  be  justly  regarded  by  everybody  as  very  brave. 
This  poor  ])lack  is  nothing  but  a  slave.  There  are  many, 
even  in  the  North,  who  would  say,  '  Give  him  the  lash  !'  " 

Again,  from  a  letter  written  on  tlie  lOth  of  July, 
1862: 

"  A  contraband  has  just  arrived.  He  came  from  Missis- 
sippi, one  hundred  miles  in  the  interior,  to  the  coast,  picking 
his  way  along  to  avoid  ]>eing  seized.  He  found  a  l)it  of  a 
skiff  and  took  it,  i)addling  away  for  dear  life  —  or  liberty, 
which  is  dearer — without  ever  having  seen  salt  water  before, 
or  knowing  which  way  to  go  to  find  the  Yankees.  By  and 
by,  he  saw  land,  Cat  Island,  and  went  on  shore  to  build  a  fire 
and  cook  his  little  dinner  and  rest.  When  he  went  back  to 
the  shore,  his  little  skiff  was  gone,  and  he  was  imprisoned 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  671 

there,  the  island  being  uninhabited,  until  to-day,  when  we 
brought  him  off.  All  for  liberty  !  If  he  were  only  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  !  But  he  is  only  a  negro.  By  his  dress  I  judge  him 
to  be  a  plantation  negro.  He  is  tall,  athletic,  bright  and  intel- 
ligent, twenty-five  or  thirty  years  old,  and  in  the  '  good  old 
times  when  cotton  was  king'  was  valued  at,  })erhaps,  from 
twelve  hundred  to  fifteen  hundred  or  more,  dollars.  Doubt- 
less some  of  our  friends  will  hold  me  heartless  because  I  do 
not  shed  tears  of  sympathy  for  those  who  have  lost  such 
a  valuable  piece  of  property,  and  say  I  am  wrong  not  to  issue 
an  order  which  would  be  more  agreeable  to  the  '  massa '  than 
to  the  slave." 

I  was  glad  to  encourage  these  people  to  come. 
They  were  escaping  from  slavery  to  freedom.  All 
my  past  as  a  man  led  me  to  sympathize  with  them 
on  that  account.  I  had  military  reasons,  also,  for 
my  course  in  this.  Those  negroes  were  able  to  relieve 
our  soldiers  of  much  work  in  a  climate  to  which  they 
were  not  accustomed,  thus  sparing  their  health  and 
strength  for  the  work  of  the  government. 

In  a  letter  to  my  family,  I  find,  under  date  of  Sep- 
tember 5,  1862: 

"  Slavery  is  about  played  out  here.  Two  contrabands 
wanted  to  go  up  river,  forty  miles,  and  get  their  families.  I 
gave  them  a  pass  to  go  and  retmni.  They  did  not  get  their 
families,  as  all  the  slaveholders  rallied  to  prevent,  and  were 
going  to  seize  the  men,  who  showed  my  pass,  and  their  mas- 
ters dared  not  touch  them.  They  came  back  in  open  day,  two 
'  fifteen-hundred  dollar  darkies  !'  The  slaveholders  gave  Gen- 
eral Dow  a  very  particular  blessing  as  a  '  nigger  thief,'  but 
respected  the  pass." 

I  believed  from  the  beginning  in  the  policy  of 
enlisting  the  negroes  as  soldiers,  and,  in  a  letter 
written  under  date  of  June  9,  1862,  now  before  me, 
wrote,  referring  to  the  number  of  slaves  that  had 
escaped  to  my  camp: 

"If  we  had  enough  of  them  here,  I  would  like  very  much 
to  put  them  under  drill  to  see  what  we  could  make  of  them. 


672  REMINISCENCES 

I  have  no  doubt  but  that  they  would  make  excellent  soldiers, 
strong,  active,  hardy,  patient  and  willing  to  learn,  and  espec- 
ially to  tight  for  liberty.  I  would  like  to  try  a  regiment  or 
brigade  of  them  very  nmch,  and  if  the  war  is  to  go  on  it  will 
certainly  come  to  that. 

''  I  have  let  the  captain  of  the  war-ship  Morning  Light  have 
a  full  boat's  crew  of  darkies,  all  jet  black,  twelve  in  number, 
and  a  very  tine  crew  it  is." 

In  a  letter,  written  under  date  of  July  22,  1862,  from 
Fort  St.  Philip,  I  find  the  following: 

"Yesterday  morning  a  steamer  from  New  Orleans  came 
here  with  al)out  one  hundred  and  fifty  contrabands  with  a  let- 
ter from  General  Phelps  suggesting  that  they  would  make 
good  artillerists.  I  answered  that  I  would  pick  out  crews  for 
a  couple  of  guns,  train  them  carefully  and  try  the  experiment, 
and  that  I  had  no  scruples  in  employing  any  muscle  in  this 
war  that  is  ready,  willing  and  able  to  fight." 

And  this  reminds  me  that  for  some  time  after 
arriving  at  Fort  St.  Philip,  and  until  I  could  instruct 
them,  there  was  no  man  among  my  soldiers  who  knew 
how  to  load  or  to  fire  a  cannon,  and  I  was  obliged  at 
first  to  do  this  in  person  to  show  them  how,  but  soon 
got  some  very  respectable  gunners.  Later  still,  in 
August,  when  there  was  a  rumor  that  Fort  St.  Philip 
was  to  be  attacked,  I  telegraphed  to  New  Orleans  for 
one  hundred  more  negroes  and  a  full  supply  of 
boarding-pikes  with  which  to  arm  them. 

In  the  meantime,  some  of  those  negroes  had  become 
fairly  efficient  gunners,  and  on  the  13th  of  August, 
1862,  I  had  the  pleasure,  on  the  occasion  of  a  call  of 
Admiral  Farragut  upon  me,  to  give  him  the  first 
salute  he  received  from  the  army  as  "Admiral,"  he 
having  hoisted  his  broad  pennon  the  day  before.  He 
apijeared  particularly  pleased  when  told  of  what 
material  I  had  made  the  gunners  who  had  fired  the 
salute. 


OF    XEAL   DOW.  673 

The  Admiral  I  judged  to  be  about  my  own  age, 
shorter  and  lighter  than  I,  and  very  active  and  wiry 
and  full  of  spirit.  We  became  very  good  friends,  and 
frequently  exchanged  calls.  We  had  many  confiden- 
tial chats  about  the  policies  and  methods  adopted  in 
the  conduct  of  the  war,  as  to  which  we  were  in  full 
accord.  He  was  not  at  all  pleased  with  the  efforts  in 
some  quarters  to  deprive  the  navy  of  the  credit  of  the 
capture  of  New  Orleans. 

There  are  many  who  would  take  with  much  allow- 
ance what  I  might  say  about  the  damage  suffered  at 
times  by  the  Union  cause  through  intemperance,  but 
Admiral  Farragut  was  very  emphatic  in  his  expres- 
sions of  regret  and  disgust  at  the  embarrassment  and 
loss  because  of  the  drinking  habits  of  many  officers, 
both  in  the  army  and  navy. 

The  Admiral  had  a  great  contempt  for  iron-clad 
rams,  saying  that  they  were  clumsy  and  unwieldy. 
He  had  his  own  ship  closely  plated  with  heavy  chains 
on  the  sides  opposite  the  boilers.  This,  he  told  me, 
he  had  found  to  be  very  useful,  as  in  other  places  she 
had  been  much  cut  up  by  shot  and  shell  which  had 
struck  her. 

In  August,  1862,  I  wrote: 

"I  have  now  three  hundred  loyal  blacks  at  this  fort  (St. 
Philip)  and  say  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  at  Fort  Jackson. 
What  is  to  become  of  them  when  we  move  is  a  grave  question. 
I  do  not  know  how  to  solve  it  with  any  light  I  have  at  pres- 
ent. With  a  proclamation  of  emancipation,  which  must  and 
will  come,  all  would  be  easy  and  simple.  After  the  war,  the 
negroes'  labor  will  be  a  necessity  here  upon  the  plantations, 
and  much  more  with  it." 

Again,  under  date  of  September  1,  1862: 

"  They  (the  negroes)  come  in  such  numl)ers  that  we  cannot 
find  profitable  and  regular  employment  for  them,  and  their 


674  REMINISCENCES 

keep'  is  becoming  very  costly.  I  see  no  way  of  speedily 
solving  this  question  without  a  military  enrollment  and 
employment.  In  that  way  we  could  make  them  earn  their 
keep  immediately,  and  I  am  confident  that  we  could  make 
good  soldiers  of  all  the  young  negroes,  at  a  vast  saving  to  the 
(government  and  to  the  consternation  of  the  Confederates. 

"Nothing,  in  ray  opinion,  would  go  so  far  to  compel  the 
substantial  men  in  the  South  into  speedy  submission  as  a  vig- 
orous and  systematic  enrollment,  arming  and  training  of  the 
negroes.  I  feel  confident  that  this  must  come  before  the 
rebellion  will  be  or  can  l)e  suppressed,  and  I  regret  exceed- 
ingly that  we  must  spend  yet  hundreds  of  millions  and  sacrifice 
thousands  of  lives  before  the  northern  mind  will  come  to  that 
point,  or  the  administration  can  see  it." 

While  writing  in  that  vein,  I  was  also  doing  all  that 
I  could  to  abolish  slavery  as  to  individuals.  The 
negroes  soon  learned  that  I  was  friendly  to  them,  and 
manifested  their  appreciation  of  it  in  a  great  variety 
of  ways.  Here  is  an  incident  taken  from  a  letter 
written  in  October,  1862,  from  Pensacola: 

"  A  very  good  looking  woman  came  here  a  few  days  ago 
and  said  she  was  keeping  house,  earning  money  and  paying 
wages  to  her  master.  I  told  her  she  might  or  might  not  con- 
tinue at  that,  as  she  pleased.  She  said  her  master  had  her 
two  children,  ten  and  eight  years  old.  I  told  her  I  could  do 
nothing  about  that,  but  if  she  could  get  them  quietly  into  her 
apartments  I  would  protect  them  there.  Yesterday  she  came 
and  said  she  had  the  children,  but  Master  came  and  '  twitched  ' 
them  away  and  whipped  them.  I  instantly  sent  an  orderly 
with  her  and  recovered  the  children.  The  master  came,  but  I 
told  him  plainly  that  slavery  would  meet  with  no  protection 
or  favor  from  me.  He  said  he  gave  nine  hundred  dollars  for 
the  woman  and  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  the  children. 
I  asked  him  how  nmch  he  would  give  for  another  lot  like 
them,  and  he  said,  '  nothing.'  He  saw  that  that  kind  of 
property  was  no  longer  of  value." 

Again,  in  a  letter  written  in  November,  1862,  refer- 
ence is  made  to  a  conversation  with  a  Union  man  who 
asked  me  for  permission  to  "  persuade "  his  negroes, 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  675 

who  had  escaped  into  my  lines,  to  return  with  him. 
I  asked  him  what  kind  of  persuasion  he  wished  to 
use.  He  laughed  and  replied  that  the  southern  way 
of  persuading  negroes  left  little  to  the  choice  of  the 
subjects  of  it.  When  I  told  him  that  I  could  not 
permit  that  kind  of  persuasion  he  said  that  nothing 
less  would  answer  his  purpose,  and  we  laughingly 
changed  the  subject,  and  he  did  not  attempt  to 
"persuade"  his  slaves  to  return. 

After  my  promotion  to  brigadier-general,  whether 
in  command  at  Ship  Island,  at  the  forts  on  the 
Mississippi,  at  Pensacola  or  at  Carrolton,  my  policy 
in  dealing  with  the  people  of  the  district  under  my 
charge  was  to  exercise  the  utmost  solicitude  for  the 
safety  and  comfort  of  Union  sympathizers,  black  or 
white,  (and  there  were  not  a  few  of  the  latter)  and 
to  be  as  considerate  as  possible  of  the  poor  and 
ignorant  whites  who  had  been  led  into  the  war, 
and  to  make  our  presence  as  uncomfortable  as  pos- 
sible—  modified  only  by  humane  considerations — for 
the  open  and  avowed  opponents  of  our  government. 
Nevertheless,  in  all  my  personal  intercourse  with 
the  Confederates  I  was  as  courteous  and  consider- 
ate as  possible,  and  never  heard  of  one  falling  into 
my  hands  who  professed  to  have  cause  for  complaint. 

Political  prisoners  committed  to  my  care  for  no 
other  reason  than  their  anti-Union  opinions,  or  to 
prevent  their  rendering  aid  to  the  enemy,  and  of 
whom  there  were  many  thorough  gentlemen,  were 
shown  every  consideration  consistent  with  the  pur- 
pose for  which  they  were  held.  So  long  as  they 
observed  the  necessary  restrictions  pertaining  to 
their  situation,  they  were  made  as  comfortable  as 
possible.       When  in  my  turn  I  was  a    prisoner    of 


676  EEMINISCENCES 

war,  some  of  those  who  had  been  in  my  custody 
as  prisoners,  among  them  Mayor  Monroe,  of  New 
Orleans,  took  great  pains  *to  reciprocate  by  their 
kind  attentions  as  far  as  practicable  what  they 
were  pleased  to  term  my  kindnesses  to  them,  and 
through  their  influence  I  was  made  much  more  com- 
fortable than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 

Among  our  own  ofiicers  I  was  brought  in  contact, 
of  course,  with  those  who  did  not  agree  with  me 
as  to  liquor,  profanity,  slavery  or  the  treatment 
of  negroes  who  had  escaped  from  their  masters. 
With  many  of  these  I  was  on  good  terms  person- 
ally, our  difiierences  of  opinion  not  affecting  our 
relations  in  the  least.  There  were  some,  however, 
who  seemed  to  live  on  liquor  and  to  gather  strength 
from  it  for  their  chief  accomplishment,  profanity; 
and  between  such  and  myself  there  could  be  no 
agreeable  intercourse.  Some  of  them  went  out  of 
their  way  to  make  me  a  butt  for  all  sorts  of  jokes, 
and  others  even  sought  to  annoy  and  insult  me. 
My  indifference  to  all  such  only  served,  in  some 
cases,  to  incite  them  to  greater  efforts  in  the  same 
direction.  I  am  more  surprised  now  than  I  was 
at  the  time  by  the  extent  of  the  trouble  some  of 
them  took  to  make  my  stay  in  the  department  as  dis- 
agi-eeable  to  me  as  possible. 

On  one  occasion  a  party  of  officers  in  my  brigade 
arranged  for  a  "  good  time,''  making  out  a  requisition 
on  the  quartermaster  for  ten  gallons  of  whiskey,  "as 
necessary  for  their  health,"  and  sending  it  to  me  for 
approval,  which  was  refused.  Immediately  one  of 
the  officers  called  upon  me  to  urge  approval.  I 
replied  that  that  was  prohibited  by  a  general  order 
of  the  commanding-general;  that  we  were  doing  our 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  677 

best  to  correct  and  prevent  drunkenness  among  the 
soldiers,  and  we  could  do  it  easier  if  they  understood 
that  the  same  rules  applied  to  officers;  and,  besides, 
that  the  whiskey  in  the  quartermaster's  hands  was 
for  use  in  the  hospitals  and  not  for  the  purpose  for 
which  they  wished  it. 

The  requisition  was  not  approved,  and  several  of 
the  disappointed  applicants  became  very  bitter,  and 
afterwards  had  opportunities,  which  they  improved, 
to  subject  me  to  great  inconvenience.  One  of  them, 
while  serving  as  a  staff-officer,  filled  out  an  order 
whereby  I  was  sent  on  horseback,  twenty-four  miles, 
on  a  mission  that  might  have  been  performed  as  well 
by  an  orderly.  He  got  the  order  signed  by  the  com- 
manding-general, who,  afterwards  assured  me  that  he 
had  no  idea  that  it  was  addressed  to  me. 

That  was  far  from  being  the  most  annoying  of 
the  vexations  which  such  officers  were  providing  at 
every  opportunity  for  "that  temperance  crank  and 
abolitionist.  General  Dow."  Some  of  these  men 
actually  thought,  so  they  said,  that  it  was  better 
for  an  officer  to  be  frequently  so  drunk  as  to  be 
incapable  of  duty  than  not  to  use  intoxicants  at 
all.  Some  of  them  were  naturally  good  fellows, 
had  had  early  advantages  and  had  been  well 
brought  up,  but  their  drinking  habits  had  so 
grown  upon  them  that  they  had  become  coarse, 
vulgar,  brutal  in  appearance  and  conversation,  and 
had  reached  a  point  where  they  probably  thought 
that  to  be  a  gentleman  one  must  drink,  to  be 
emphatic  and  decided  one  must  swear,  and  that  it 
was  becoming  to  an  officer  to  be  rude,  insulting  and 
abusive  to  the  soldiers  under  his  command. 

While  referring  to  the  habits  in  this  particular  of 


678  REMINISCENCES 

some  officers,  I  am  reminded  that  even  those  of  us  who 
did  not  drink  at  all  were  often  -made  the  subjects  of 
misleading  stories.  Occasionally  a  newspaper  corre- 
spondent amused  himself  and  the  readers  of  his 
journal  with  a  canard  at  my  expense,  and  some  of 
these  were  taken  up  and  circulated  over  the  English- 
speaking  world.  Some  of  them  were  ill-natured  and 
false  in  whole  and  in  part,  without  a  shadow  of  foun- 
dation, others  good-natured  and  funny,  with  enough 
of  truth  as  a  basis  to  make  them  really  amusing.  It 
is  hardly  worth  space  to  refer  to  any  of  these  particu- 
larly, but  one  incident  occurred  which  I  thought 
worthy  in  an  idle  moment  of  mention  in  a  letter 
written  from  the  City  Hotel,  New  Orleans,  on  the  13th 
of  July,  1862,  to  my  home  circle,  naturally  interested 
in  the  most  insignificant  details  of  my  daily  life: 

"  The  head  waiter,  a  darkey,  is  a  character,  and  is  very 
deferential  to  the  '  General,'  and  hopes  he  is  '  comfortable.' 
This  afternoon  he  brought  me  a  pitcher  of  ice  water,  and, 
with  Landlord  Woodward's  compliments,  a  tumbler  of  mint 
julc[),  iced,  minted  and  dusted  with  pulverized  sugar,  and 
with  a  glass  tube,  '  all  ready.'  He  waited  as  if  to  see  me 
take  it,  but  I  told  him  to  set  it  down,  which  he  did.  Just 
before  dinner,  he  came  up  to  notify  me  that  dinner  was  almost 
ready,  and,  seeing  the  julep,  said :  '  Oh,  dat's  all  dead  now  !' 
*Well,'  I  said,  '  I  never  drink  at  all.'  'Ah,  I  fought  j^ou 
was  one  o'  dem  dat  indulged.'  '  No,  I  never  do.'  '  Oh,  all 
right.'  '  Yes,  I  mean  to  keep  all  right.'  '  Yah  I  yah  ! '  Exit 
waiter  with  the  '  dead  '  julep,  to  appear  probably  at  the  bar 
with  an  empty  glass." 

Having  gossiped  to  that  extent  of  a  trivial  matter 
which  might  amuse  my  family,  I  thought  no  more 
about  it.  But  it  was  not  long  before  many  of  the 
papers  were  telling  a  story  something  like  it,  and 
commenting  upon  it.  Here  is  the  first  form  in  which 
it  was  published,  clipped  from  a  New  York  paper: 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  679 

"  A  day  or  two  ago  my  eyes  were  attracted  by  a  diminutive 
little  man,  carrying  the  significant  shoulder-strap  of  a  briga- 
dier-general. I  had  great  confidence  in  his  skill  and  courage 
and  in  his  military  knowledge,  for  I  knew  that  ]\Iarion  was 
small  in  body,  and  so  was  Dr.  Watts.  The  general  came  to 
my  hotel  and  proceeded  upstairs.  In  a  few  moments,  the 
attentive  landlord,  hearing  that  he  had  a  live  brigadier-general 
in  the  house,  without  asking  the  clerk  for  his  name,  only 
asked  for  his  number,  which  obtaining,  said  landlord  rushed 
into  the  bar-room,  and  had  a  julep  mixed,  of  standard 
strength,  and  ornamented  with  an  immense  amount  of 
'  greens,'  which  ostentatiously  stuck  up,  making  the  '  institu- 
tion '  look  more  like  a  flower-pot  than  a  genial  beverage. 
This  chemical  and  vegetable  combination,  sustained  by  a 
waiter  of  unusual  politeness,  was  handed  in  to  '  21 '  with  the 
landlord's  compliments. 

"In  due  course  of  time  the  tumbler  returned  as  dry  as  a 
gourd,  the  mint  all  wilted  ;  in  fine,  it  seemed  as  if  a  sirocco 
had  passed  over  it.  And  what  of  that?  Only,  gentle  reader, 
that  the  general  was  General  Neal  Dow,  the  author  of  the 
Maine  Liquor  Law,  the  commander  at  Fort  Jackson,  whose 
orderly,  no  doubt,  appropriated  to  himself  the  landlord's 
honest  hospitality." 

A  lively  newspaper  man  had  thus  improved  a  good 
chance  to  make  a  paragraph  which  he  was  confident 
would  go  the  rounds.  It  did,  and  was  variously 
commented  upon,  not  always  in  the  good-natured 
way  in  which  the  story  was  originally  told.  Here 
is  a  sample  of  many  of  the  comments: 

"This  is  frightful.  Neal  Dow%  who  but  a  few  years  ago 
was  not  contented  unless  all  mankind  forswore  eternal  enmity 
to  mint  juleps  and  all  other  peculiar  '  wanities '  compounded 
by  liquor-sellers;  Neal  Dow,  who  called  out  the  police  of 
Portland  to  shut  up  the  liquor-shops  ;  Neal  Dow,  who  was 
never  weary  of  poking  his  nose  into  other  people's  business, 
like  a  true  New  Englander ;  Neal  Dow,  succumbing  before  the 
seductive  influence  of  a  mint  julep.  Oh,  tell  it  not  in  Gath, 
and  proclaim  it  not  in  New  England  !" 

I  am  unable  to  say  positively  how  it  was  in  "Gath," 
but  it  was  proclaimed  in  New  England  and  in  Old 


680  REMINISCENCES 

England  as  well,  and  in  all  her  colonies  and  prov- 
inces. Wherever  there  was  an  editor  unfriendly  to 
temperance  who  thought  he  could  make  a  point 
against  temperance  measures  or  temperance  men,  that 
item  was  taken  up,  garbled  or  embellished,  and  made 
to  do  duty  for  that  purpose.  The  number  and  vari- 
ety of  editorial  comments  upon  my  alleged  fall  from 
grace,  and  of  the  letters  of  inquiry  based  thereon, 
received  by  myself,  my  family  and  my  friends,  was 
something  wonderful  to  contemplate. 

The  story,  originating  in  a  desire  for  "fun,"  was 
taken  up  for  other  purposes.  There  were,  doubtless, 
many  people  who  regretfully  believed  that  the  temp- 
tations of  army  life  had  led  me  to  abandon  the  rule 
of  abstinence  which  had  governed  me  from  my  youth 
up.  There  were  others,  unquestionably,  who  busied 
themselves  in  circulating  the  report,  quite  as  regretful 
that  there  was  no  foundation  for  it. 

And  this  reminds  me  of  an  incident  prior  to  the  war 
illustrating  the  readiness  with  which  some  of  the 
opponents  of  Prohibition  resorted  to  every  means, 
however  false  or  foul,  to  injure  it.  In  the  latter  part 
of  1859,  while  walking  along  a  plank,  stretched  from 
one  beam  to  another  in  my  tannery,  my  path  was 
obscured  by  steam  and  smoke  with  which  the  room  at 
that  moment  was  filled,  and,  missing  my  footing,  I 
fell,  striking  on  my  head  and  shoulders  upon  the 
stones  and  bricks,  sixteen  feet  below.  My  fall  was 
broken  somewhat  by  my  striking  another  beam,  and, 
almost  miraculously  escaping  death,  I  was  stunned, 
wounded,  bruised  and  lamed. 

The  accident  was  related  in  the  local  papers  under 
some  such  caption  as  "The  Terrible  Fall  of  Neal 
Dow."    That  should  have  been  the  end  of  it.     An 


OF   XEAL    DOW.  681 

out  of  town  paper,  however,  either  maliciously  or 
facetiously  assuming  that  the  "fall"  referred  to  was 
into  habits  of  intemperance,  concocted  a  story  which 
had  the  run  of  the  press  in  this  country  and  England. 
Here  is  one  form  in  Avhich  it  appeared : 

"  Neal  Dow,  of  Portland,  the  father  of  the  'Maine  Law,' 
has  become  enslaved  by  the  terrible  habit  which  it  has  been  of 
late  the  effort  of  his  life  publicly  to  reform.  If  this  be  so,  it 
affords  another  melancholy  example  of  the  inefficiency  of 
legal  restraints  to  preserve  the  purity  or  to  correct  the  vicious 
practices  of  individual  life." 

At  this  time  I  happened  to  be  a  representative  from 
Portland  in  the  Maine  legislature,  then  in  session  in 
Augusta.  One  of  our  local  papers  copied  the  above, 
and  added: 

^'  Mr.  Dow  is  representing  this  city  in  the  legislature,  and, 
if  the  report  be  true,  this  '  terrible '  habit  must  have  been 
acquired  within  two  weeks,  since  the  commencement  of  the 
session  at  Augusta.  We  were  always  suspicious  that  the 
moral  atmosphere  of  Augusta  is  corrupting,  and  the  report  in 
relation  to  our  able  and  efficient  representative  only  confirms 
our  preconceived  notions.  The  legislature  should  be  removed 
to  this  city,  where  the  morals  and  religious  training  of  the 
members  will  receive  due  attention." 

Meanwhile,  the  charge  that  I  had  become  a  drunk- 
ard was  whirling  its  way  through  the  press,  and  at 
last  the  matter  assumed  such  proportions  that  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  pay  some  attention  to  it,  and  so, 
under  date  of  January  25,  1860,  the  Portland  paper 
last  quoted  had  the  following: 

"  Several  weeks  since  Mr.  Dow  met  with  a  fall  from  a  con- 
siderable height,  and  narrowly  escaped  a  serious  injury.     We 

presumed  that  the seized  upon  the  fact  of  the  fall  —  an 

account  of  which  had  got  into  the  papers — to  perpetrate  a 
joke.  We  copied  the  item,  and  to  keep  alive  the  joke  ven- 
tured to  attribute  the  occasion  of  the  fall  to  the  maliffn 
influences  at  the  state  capital,  where,  as  one  of  the  worthy 


682  REMINISCENCES 

representatives  ol  this  cit}^  Mr.  Dow  had  domiciled  for  a  fort- 
night previous  to  the  announcement.  It  would  now  seem 
that  this  joke  has  assumed  a  somewhat  serious  aspect ;  and, 
lest  any  one  should  be  at  all  misled  in  the  matter,  we  declare 
in  the  most  unqualified  terms  that  Mr.  Dow  has  not  become  a 
victim  to  the  terrible  hal)it  charged  in  a  Connecticut  paper, 
but  is  now,  as  ever,  a  teetotaler,  and  not  less  earnest  than 
ever  in  advocating  the  cause  of  temperance." 

On  January  24,  1860,  I  wrote  a  letter  to  my  personal 

friend,  the  late  Hon.  Bradford  E.  Wood,  of  Albany, 

N.  Y.,  whicli  was  pnblistied,  and  from  wliicli  I  quote: 

"I  need  hardly  assure  you  personally,  that  the  imputation 
is  without  the  slightest  foundation.  I  became  a  teetotaler  in 
early  life,  and  have  remained  such  unwaveringly  to  the  pres- 
ent moment,  and  was  never  more  of  a  temperance  man  theo- 
retically and  practically,  and  a  Maine-La w"  man,  than  now." 

The  Connecticut  paper  which  started  the  story 
afterwards  gave  me  the  name  of  its  informant,  who 
proved  to  be  a  liquor-seller  in  Portland  who  knew  it 
to  be  false  when  he  wrote  it.  Neither  I  nor  any 
friend  of  mine  thought  the  matter  worthy  of  notice, 
save  that  it  was  being  so  extensively,  and,  strange  as 
it  may  seem,  effectively  used  to  throw  discredit  upon 
a  cause  with  which  my  name  was  connected. 

The  "mint  julep"  story  afforded  a  second  oppor- 
tunity, which  was  improved  by  the  newspapers,  some 
by  mistake,  some  in  jest  and  some  in  malice,  to  spread 
the  report  that  I  had  fallen  into  the  drinking  habit. 
I  cannot  refrain  from  adding  that  liad  my  convictions 
upon  this  subject  been  other  than  they  were,  I  saw 
enough  of  the  injurious  effects  of  drinking  all  about 
me  in  the  army  to  have  led  me  to  abstain  altogether 
while  in  the  service,  if  on  no  other  than  patriotic 
grounds,  that  my  example  might  tend  toward  check- 
ing a  vice  which  my  superior  officer  had  declared  to 
be  the  ' '  curse  of  the  army. " 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  683 

Some  of  my  brother  officers  amused  themselves,  in  a 
good-natured  way,  by  calling  special  attention  to  my 
abstinence.  On  one  occasion,  a  grinning  waiter 
walked  the  length  of  a  large  dining-room  to  my  seat 
at  the  table,  bringing  a  bottle  of  champagne,  ' '  with 

the  best  compliments,  sah,  of  Colonel  ,  of  de 

,"  and  by  the  time  the  waiter  got  back  to  the 

polite  colonel  with  the  champagne,  my  compliments, 
thanks  and  declination,  the  attention  of  almost 
everybody  in  the  dining-room  had  been  attracted 
to  the  "general  that  did  not  drink." 

One  day  at  the  close  of  a  review,  I  was,  with 
other  officers,  invited  into  a  tent  where  "refresh- 
ments "  were  served.  As  I  chose  water,  my  immediate 
superior,  Major-General  T.  W.  Sherman,  an  admirable 
officer,  and  a  perfect  gentleman,  by  the  way,  urged 
me  very  politely  to  take  some  whiskey,  and  playfully 
tried  to  pour  some  into  my  glass,  only  desisting  when 
he  saw  that  he  was  pouring  it  on  the  ground.  Then 
he  turned  to  his  medical  director.  Dr.  Sanger,  a  most 
competent  surgeon  and  physician,  from  Bangor,  in  my 
own  state,  and  said :  ' '  Doctor,  Greneral  Dow  has 
been  in  the  saddle  now  in  the  heat  for  some  hours, 
don't  you  think  that  some  whiskey  will  do  him 
good?"  "Most  assuredly.  General,"  laughingly 
replied  the  doctor.  ' '  Now,  General  Dow,  what 
have  you  to  say  to  that  advice  ? "  asked  General 
Sherman.  "Only  that  some  doctors  give  advice 
in  which  I  do  not  believe." 

General  Sherman  afterwards  frequently  alluded 
facetiously  to  the  incident,  and  all  the  time  we 
were  associated  we  were  on  the  very  best  of  terms. 
I  am  confident  that  he  was  not  one  of  those  officers 
who  considered  that    total  abstinence   from    liquor 


684  REMINISCENCES 

impaired  the  capacity  of  a  man  to  discharge  his 
full  duty  as  a  soldier. 

Here  I  am  reminded  that,  for  some  weeks  while 
in  command  at  Fort  St.  Philip,  I  was  seriously  ill. 
One  of  the  Confederate  prisoners  in  my  care  was 
a  physician  of  high  standing  and  large  practice,  and 
he  was  called  into  consultation  by  the  surgeon 
who  had  charge  of  my  case  —  Dr.  S.  C.  Gordon,  then 
the  young  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Thirteenth  Maine, 
now  one  of  the  ablest  and  best  known  surgeons  of 
New  England  —  as  more  familiar  with  the  treatment 
of  the  disease  which,  if  I  remember  aright,  was 
called,   "Southern  Fever." 

This  physician  prescribed  "Scotch  ale. "  I  objected, 
telling  him  that  undoubtedly  the  first  effect  would 
appear  to  be  beneficial,  but  that  a  reaction  would 
soon  follow  making  me  worse  off  than  before.  He 
insisted  that  it  was  indispensable  to  my  recovery, 
and  I  consented  to  try  it.  Watching  its  effects 
closely,  after  taking  it  at  three  different  times  with 
exactly  the  result  I  had  anticipated,  I  declined  to 
take  more.  It  is  proper  for  me  to  add  that  the 
doctor  was  entirely  sincere  in  his  belief  that  the 
remedy  he  prescribed  would  help  me,  but  none  the 
less  the  result  satisfied  me  that  it  did  no  good. 

While  in  command  at  Carrolton,  above  New 
Orleans,  I  was  cited  to  appear  before  a  court  in 
that  city  to  answer  to  a  suit  brought  against  me 
for  the  value  of  sugar  and  other  articles  seized 
by  an  expedition  sent  out  by  me  under  command 
of  Captain  Snell,  afterwards  for  a  long  time  judge 
of  a  court  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  special 
object  of  the  expedition  was  to  obtain  sugar  for  the 
troops  to  be  used  with  sour  oranges,  to  make  a  drink 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  685 

preHcribed  by  the  surgeons  for  the  soldiers,  as  a  pre- 
ventive of  scurvy.  It  was  said  that  the  negroes  who 
accompanied  the  expedition,  and  perhaps  some  of 
the  soldiers,  helped  themselves  to  other  articles.  I 
paid  no  attention  to  the  summons,  not  recognizing 
the  right  of  any  civil  court  to  call  me  from  the 
post  and  duty  to  which  I  had  been  assigned  by 
the  lawful  orders  of  my  superior  officer. 

The  matter  had  escaped  my  mind  altogether,  when 
one  day  a  man,  representing  himself  to  be  a  sheriff, 
or  other  officer  authorized  to  serve  an  execution, 
demanded  of  me  payment  of  a  judgment  which 
had  been  rendered  against  me  by  the  court,  the 
summons  of  which  I  had  ignored.  My  reply  was 
that  the  authority  of  the  court  under  which  he 
was  acting  was  not  recognized  by  me,  whereupon 
he  replied  that  it  would  be  his  duty  to  take  what 
property  of  mine  he  could  obtain,  indicating  my 
horses,  my  camp  equipage,  etc.  I  told  him  that 
if  his  posse  was  larger  than  the  division  under 
my  command  he  could  take  the  property,  otherwise 
he  had  better  abandon  the  attempt.  No  more  was 
heard  from  him, 

Cfeneral  Banks  was  then  in  command  of  the  depart- 
ment, and  Colonel  Kingman,  of  the  Fifteenth  New 
Hampshire,  who  was  a  lawyer,  a  good  soldier  and 
an  estimable  gentleman,  went  to  him  about  it,  return- 
ing with  the  assurance  that  there  was  no  need  to  give 
myself  further  concern  about  the  matter.  Years 
afterwards  that  "judgment"  was  sued  in  the  United 
States  District  Court  in  Maine.  The  government 
assumed  its  defense.  It  went  to  the  Supreme  Court 
w^here  judgment  was  rendered  in  my  favor,  settling  a 
very  important  principle  of  law. 


CHAPTER   XXVIL 


ORDERED   TO   PORT   HUDSON     WITH   MY   COMMAND.         RUMORS 

OF   A   BATTLE.  RAPID   MARCHING.         THE    BATTLE 

OF      PORT     HUDSON.  CHARGE     OF     MY 

BRIGADE.         WOUNDED.         TAKEN 

PRISONER. 


From  a  military  point  of  view  my  service  in  the 
army  was  uneventful.  At  the  forts  and  at  Pensacola, 
as  well  as  at  Ship  Island,  I  was  chiefly  occupied  in 
caring  for  the  cleanliness  of  the  camp,  the  health  of 
the  troops  under  my  command  and  in  perfecting  their 
discipline  and  drill.  My  own  Thirteenth  Maine, 
which,  when  I  left  it,  was  not  excelled  by  any 
regiment  in  the  department  in  any  of  the  essentials 
for  good  service  —  owing,  as  I  have  explained,  to  the 
quality  of  its  rank  and  file  and  its  excellent  officers  — 
had  been  divided  and  scattered  about,  company  by 
company.  This  condition  continued  for  some  time. 
When  finally  the  regiment  was  brought  together 
again  it  fully  justified  the  hopes  based  upon  the  good 
material  with  which  its  ranks  were  filled  and  the 
capacity  and  judgment  of  its  officers. 

It  fell  to  my  lot,  from  time  to  time,  to  have  several 
regiments,  supposed  to  be  in  special  need  of  careful 


REMINISCENCES    OF  NEAL  DOW.  687 

supervision,  under  my  command.  Among  tliem 
were  the  famous  "Billy  Wilson's  Zouaves,"  of  New 
York,  with  which  regiment,  by  the  way,  I  had  little 
trouble,  and  among  its  officers  were  gentlemen  with 
whom  I  was  very  glad  to  associate.  One  of  these, 
Oliver  Matthews,  I  selected  as  aide  on  my  staff,  and 
he  was  afterwards  promoted  to  be  my  A.  A.  General, 
serving  as  such  until  my  capture  near  Port  Hudson. 
I  also  found  a  very  competent  clerk  in  a  private  of 
that  regiment.  He  was  a  German,  a  graduate  of 
Leipsic  university,  and,  though  in  the  ranks  of  a 
regiment  notorious  for  a  different  kind  of  material, 
was  entirely  sober,  and  was  a  religious  man.  I  regret 
that  his  name,  at  this  writing,  escapes  me,  for  he 
proved  to  be  very  reliable. 

Soon  after  my  promotion  to  a  brigadier-generalship, 
I  was  transferred  from  Ship  Island  to  Fort  St.  Philip, 
and  from  thence  was  sent  to  Pensacola,  where  I  was 
in  command  for  some  time,  and  where  I  was  chiefly 
occupied  in  putting  the  place  in  a  condition  to  resist 
an  attack  from  the  land  side,  and  in  perfecting  the 
efficiency  of  the  troops  under  my  charge. 

In  the  latter  part  of  January,  1863,  I  was  assigned 
to  the  command  of  the  defenses  of  New  Orleans  at 
Carrolton,  and  remained  there  in  the  discharge  of  the 
ordinary  duties  pertaining  to  such  a  position  until 
the  21st  of  the  next  May.  On  that  date,  in  pursuance 
of  orders,  I  started  with  my  brigade  for  Baton  Rouge, 
en  route  for  Port  Hudson. 

We  arrived  at  Springfield  Landing,  and  disem- 
barked at  three  P.  M.  on  the  22d  of  May.  At  this 
point  heavy  firing  was  heard  in  the  direction  of  Port 
Hudson,  and  I  immediately  commenced  my  march 
toward  that  place,  pushing  on  as  rapidly  as  possible, 


688  KEMINISCENCES 

having  been  told  at  tlie  Landing  tliat  a  battle  was  in 
progress,  and  that  General  Auger  was  hard  pressed 
and  sadly  in  need  of  reinforcements.  None  of  the 
regiments  in  my  command  had  been  under  fire,  but 
they  responded  enthusiastically  to  my  call  for  vigor- 
ous marching,  very  much  inspirited  by  the  prospect 
of  being  of  service.  After  a  march  of  ten  miles  in 
less  than  three  hours,  over  horrible  roads,  we  had 
news  from  the  front  that  there  was  no  battle,  and 
halted  for  a  much  needed  rest,  bivouacking  at  Buhler 
Plains,  seven  miles  from  Port  Hudson. 
I  quote  from  a  letter  written  at  the  time: 

"  My  quarters  are  at  a  small  farm-house.  This  consists  of 
an  open  center  with  a  roof  over  and  two  small,  poor  rooms  on 
each  side,  and  a  little  poor  kitchen  joining  in  the  rear,  with 
an  earthen  floor.  The  whole  is  made  from  stutF  supplied 
from  oak  trees  and  locked  at  the  corners.  Along  the  front 
the  roof  projects  ten  feet,  supported  by  rough  posts.  The 
family  consists  of  fifteen  persons,  eight  of  them  being  little 
darkies,  from  two  months  to  twelve  years  old.  They  are 
raised  as  the  ducks  and  chickens  are  —  for  the  profit,  though 
it  is  hard  to  see  where  that  is  in  these  times." 

Along  the  line  of  that  march  I  was  accosted  by  a 
"native,"  whose  plantation  was  on  our  way.  He 
had  learned  from  the  advance  guard  that  I  was  in 
command  of  the  troops,  and  hurried  to  meet  me.  He 
told  me  that  he  was  originally  from  Maine,  where 
before  the  days  of  railroading  he  was  a  stage-driver 
between  Portland  and  Augusta,  and  that  I  had  been  a 
frequent  passenger  in  his  stage,  recalling  to  my  mind 
incidents  of  some  of  those  trips.  He  added  that  he 
had  little  expected  then  to  meet  me  out  in  Louisiana 
in  military  life. 

The  next  day  we  moved  to  within  four  miles  of 
Port  Hudson,  arriving  there  about  three,  P.  M.,  and 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  689 

immediately  formed  in  two  lines  of  battle,  and  tlien 
our  men  prepared  to  bivouac  in  their  positions.  At 
General  Sherman's  request  I  went  with  him  to  recon- 
noiter  the  enemy's  works,  but  we  got  no  clear  idea 
of  their  position  or  strength.  The  next  day,  Sunday, 
we  moved  forward  two  miles  nearer  Port  Hudson. 
Here  I  found  time  to  write  home,  and  said: 

"My  quarters  are  in  a  little  shanty  made  of  a  few  boards 
laid  on  the  ground,  and  a  few  more  making  a  shed  roof,  put 
up  without  nails,  and  lia])le  to  be  blown  down  with  the  first 
wind,  or  tumbled  down  about  our  ears  by  the  first  rude  touch. 
It  is  held  up  at  the  right  front  corner  by  a  large  black  stump, 
against  which  it  is  braced  by  laying  boards  and  fence  rails  on 
it  in  various  directions.  In  front  there  are  stakes  driven 
down  at  each  side,  on  which  we  lay  a  rough  board  for  our 
table." 

That  day  I  was  informed  that  an  assault  was  likely 
to  be  ordered  at  any  time,  and  was  surprised  because 
it  seemed  to  me,  from  what  little  I  had  been  able 
to  see  of  the  enemy's  position,  that  it  would  result 
only  in  the  useless  sacrifice  of  life.  In  the  letter 
last  mentioned,  referring  to  the  probability  of  an 
assault  within  a  day  or  two,  I  find  this: 

"I  do  not  see  any  great  urgency  for  it,  especially  as  we 
have  entirely  cut  off  the  enemy's  communication,  and  with 
the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  which  cannot  hold  out  much  longer, 
this  place  must  also  come  into  our  hands  without  bloodshed." 

Ten  days  later,  General  Halleck,  the  general  in 
chief,  wrote  General  Banks  from  Washington: 

"The  moment  Vicksburg  falls  there  will  be  no  serious 
difficul^ty  in  taking  Port  Hudson." 

Those  opinions  were  amply  justified,  for,  on  the 
8th  of  July,  upon  learning  through  General  Banks 
that  Vicksburg  had  fallen  on  the  fourth  of  that 
month,   General    Gardner    immediately  surrendered. 


690  REMINISCENCES 

However,  my  sole  duty  was  to  prepare  my  brigade 
as  speedily  as  possible  for  the  battle,  should  an 
advance  be  ordered,  and  Sunday  afternoon,  with 
General  Sherman,  I  reconnoitered  the  ground  in  my 
front  over  which  my  brigade  must  pass  should  an 
assault  be  made.  What  I  saw  then  only  confirmed 
my  opinion  that  the  undertaking  would  be  without 
the  slightest  prospect  of  success  until  the  Confederate 
batteries  could  be  at  least  partially  silenced.  General 
Sherman,  who  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  enter- 
tained the  same  opinion. 

There  was  an  open  plain  of  at  least  five  hundred 
yards  to  be  covered  before  we  could  get  near  enough 
to  see  the  enemy.  This  plain  was  commanded  by 
the  sharp-shooters  of  the  Confederates  as  well  as 
by  their  artillery.  Then  there  was  a  gulch  to  pass 
through,  of  which  the  Confederates  had  the  exact 
range,  and  into  which,  at  the  proper  time,  they 
could  drop  their  shells  with  deadly  effect.  They 
also  had  advantageous  positions  from  which  their 
sharp-shooters  could  pick  off  our  officers  with  ease. 
If  we  had  had  men  enough  to  fill  up  the  gaps  made 
by  the  losses  sure  to  be  sustained  in  passing  through 
the  fire  to  which  we  must  be  subjected,  we  might, 
could  men  be  held  up  to  such  a  hopeless,  foolhardy 
charge,  get  to  the  wide,  deep  ditcli,  beyond  which 
were  ramparts  to  be  scaled,  and  behind  which  was 
an  enemy,  so  far  as  General  Sherman  and  I  could 
judge,  fully  as  numerous  as  we,  to  keep  up  a 
murderous  fire  —  all  the  more  deadly  because  it 
would  be  maintained  by  men  conscious  of  their  own 
safety  behind  formidal)le  works. 

Under  these  circumstances,  as  disclosed  to  us 
by    our    superficial    examination.    General    Sherman 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  691 

expressed  himself  to  me  as  being  strongly  opposed 
to  the  assault,  which  had  been  intimated  to  him 
might  be  made  the  next  day.  It  would  be  impos- 
sible, he  said  to  me,  to  get  veteran  troops,  inured 
to  fire,  up  to  that  ditch  through  all  those  obstacles, 
seen  and  unseen,  much  less  men  who  had  never 
been  under  fire.  He  expressed  the  opinion  that 
no  attack  would  be  ordered. 

The  next  morning  at  four  o'clock  I  was  summoned 
by  General  Sherman  and  shown  orders  for  an  assault 
that  day,  closing  with  the  imperative  clause,  "Port 
Hudson  must  fall  to-morrow!"  A  West  Point  edu- 
cation was  not  necessary  to  see  that  under  all  the 
circumstances  an  attack  would  be  worse  than  folly, 
but  my  own  opinion  to  that  effect  was  strengthened 
by  the  knowledge  that  General  Sherman  held  the 
same  view.  I  at  once  left  his  quarters  to  begin 
preparations  for  the  assault.  Orders  were  first 
given  me  to  form  a  "column  of  division  at  half 
distance,"  but  I  was  permitted  to  change  that  so 
as  to  present  battalion  front,  as  affording  less  oppor- 
tunity for  a  universal  slaughter  of  our  men.  General 
Sherman  gave  general  directions,  leaving  the  details 
to  me. 

My  brigade  was  formed  in  four  lines.  This  was 
effected  as  far  as  possible  under  what  cover  was 
afforded  by  some  garden  trees  to  protect  my  men 
as  long  as  possible  from  the  storm  of  destruction 
which  I  knew  would  sweep  down  upon  them  when 
they  were  once  fairly  in  the  open.  The  Sixth 
Michigan,  Colonel  Clark,  formed  the  first  line;  the 
One  Hundred  Twenty-eighth  New  York,  Colonel 
Cowles,  the  second;  then  came  the  Twenty-sixth 
Connecticut,    Colonel    Kingsley,   in    the  third    line, 


692  KEMIXISCENCES 

while  the  Fifteenth  New  Hampshire,  Colonel  King- 
man, constituted  the  fourth.  Our  lines  formed, 
just  before  ordering  the  advance  I  rode  along  the 
front  with  a  few  words  of  encouragement.  Knowing 
the  utter  hopelessness  of  our  undertaking,  I  could 
not  help  noticing  and  remembering  a  remark  made  by 
a  soldier  of  the  Sixth  Michigan  as  I  passed.  It  was, 
"I  guess  it's  all  right,  the  old  man  is  smiling." 

In  the  front  of  the  first  line  were  negroes  to  carry 
long  poles  to  put  across  that  distant  ditch  for  any 
of  the  soldiers  who  might  live  to  get  there  to  cross 
upon.  That  was  a  cheerless  task  for  those  poor 
fellows,  who  could  not  have  even  such  assistance 
to  their  courage  as  the  possession  of  a  weapon 
would  give  them.  But  for  that  matter,  no  weapon 
was  to  be  of  use  until  the  ditch  could  be  crossed. 
Next  to  those  negroes  was  a  forlorn  hope  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  men,  volunteers,  under  com- 
mand of  Captain  Stark,  of  the  Sixth  Michigan. 
While  the  brigade  was  forming,  several  of  our 
mounted  ofiicers  were  exposed,  and  attracted  the  fire 
of  sharp-shooters  who  had  been  moved  forward  by  the 
enemy  for  that  purpose,  and  some  companies  of  the 
128th  New  York  were  thrown  out  as  skirmishers  and 
sharp-shooters  to  keep  them  back.  Some  of  our 
sharp-shooters  got  over  near  the  parapet,  and  from 
behind  stumps  and  trunks  of  fallen  trees  fired  with 
great  deliberation.  One  man  fired  sixty-nine  times, 
being  wounded  while  loading  for  the  seventieth, 
and  another  fired  ninety-five  times,  every  shot  being 
deliberately  aimed.  After  the  battle,  while  our  men 
were  out  collecting  the  dead,  some  of  the  Con- 
federates spoke  to  Captain  Matthews,  of  my  staff, 
complimenting  our  sharp-shooters  highly. 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  693 

In  the  meantime  we  were  stormed  at  with  shot  that 
came  tearing  through  the  trees,  and  with  shell  that 
for  the  most  part  fell  behind  us.  In  our  front  were 
three  fences  which  we  had  to  break  down  and  climb 
over,  and  in  doing  this  a  little  confusion  resulted, 
which  was  soon  corrected,  and  we  moved  on.  In 
emerging  into  the  open,  the  enemy's  fire  began  to  tell, 
and  their  sharp-shooters  to  get  in  their  work.  We 
could  not  reply  with  a  shot,  and  had  only  to  push  on. 
The  enemy  had  a  thirty-two  pounder,  the  location  of 
which  we  knew.  Its  first  shot  went  screeching  but  a 
few  feet  above  our  heads,  and  I  supposed  that  there- 
after its  range  would  be  corrected  and  its  fire  would 
tear  through  our  ranks.  But  no,  every  shot  went 
over.  Afterwards  we  were  told  that  that  gun  was  in 
charge  of  a  New  Yorker,  who  had  been  pressed  into 
the  Confederate  service,  and  that  he  purposely  trained 
it  to  do  us  no  harm.  However  that  may  have  been, 
there  were  enough  other  guns  which  were  served  with 
deadly  effect. 

The  plain  which  we  had  now  reached  was  swept  with 
a  cross  fire,  and  we  attempted  that  at  double  quick. 
It  was  a  little  dusty,  and  quite  smooth,  and  on  this 
the  enemy's  rifle  balls  were  dropping,  reminding  me  as 
they  fell  of  big  drops  of  rain  upon  dusty  streets. 
Meanwhile  shells  were  bursting  over,  among  and 
around  us  in  every  direction,  and  cannon  shot  were 
screaming.  The  enemy  had  had  plenty  of  opportuni- 
ties, which  were  improved,  to  learn  just  how  to  train 
the  guns  in  their  works  to  hit  any  square  yard  on  the 
ground  over  which  we  had  to  pass. 

At  one  point,  where  the  fire  was  very  heavy,  Gener- 
al Sherman  rode  up  to  me  and  said  that  he  had  sent 
an  order  to  the  second  brigade,  and  was  now  going  to 

45 


694  REMINISCENCES 

see  to  its  execution.  Leaving  me  for  this  purpose,  he 
was  soon  badly  wounded,  his  leg  being  shattered 
below  the  knee.  I  did  not  learn  of  this  until  after  the 
battle  was  over,  being  entirely  occupied  with  matters 
in  my  own  front. 

Shortly  after  this,  I  was  struck  by  a  spent  ball  in 
the  arm,  which  was  rendered  useless  by  the  blow  and 
almost  immediately  swelled  to  nearly  twice  its  normal 
size,  so  that  I  could  no  longer  control  my  horse.  I 
now  o])tained  assistance  to  dismount,  and,  supporting 
my  arm  as  best  I  could,  proceeded  on  foot.  *  During 
this  time  we  had  not  had  even  the  advantage  of  such 
cover  as  would  have  been  afforded  by  smoke,   had 

*  On  the  day  of  General  Dow's  death,  October  2,  1897,  more  than 
thirty-four  years  after  the  assault  on  Port  Hudson,  a  letter  was 
received  at  his  home,  addressed  to  him,  written  by  Colonel  T.  G.  Eeid, 
late  of  the  Twelfth  Arkansas  Infantry,  under  date  of  September  29, 
1897.     Rewrote: 

"The  morning  papers,  through  the  Associated  Press  despatches,  tell 
us  that  you  are  seriously  sick.  I  have  always  felt  I  would  like  to 
know  you  personally.  On  the  morning  of  the  assault  on  Port  Hudson, 
you,  with  one  or  two  mounted  officers  in  the  midst  of  your  brigade, 
columns  of  regimental  front,  in  the  broad,  open  held  of  Slaughter's 
plantation,  were  directing  the  deploying  of  your  regiments  into  line  of 
battle  about  four  to  six  hundred  yards  from  my  position,  which  was 
the  riglit  center  of  our  line  of  earth-works  in  front  of  Slaughter's  resi- 
dence. I  observed  closely  your  movements  until  I  was  enabled  to 
know  that  you  were  the  commanding  officer. 

"I  assembled  a  small  number  of  my  sharp-shooters  and  singled  you 
out  to  them,  and  ordered  them  to  fire  continuously  at  you.  After  a 
short  time  your  line  of  liattle  was  formed,  and  a  general  advance  on 
my  position  was  commenced,  with  drums  Ideating  and  flags  Hying,  pre- 
senting a  magnificent  line,  grandly  marching  to  time  in  i)erfect  order. 
It  was  a  picture  never  to  be  erased  from  my  mind,  for  with  all  the  mil- 
itary pomp  and  display  in  formidal)le  1)attle  array  I  knew  the  dreadful 
fate' I  lield  in  hand  to  turn  it  into  defeat  with  the  terrible  slaughter  of 
that  day's  battle. 

"The' scattering  fire  of  my  sharp-shooters  continued,  while  the  roar 
of  your  cannon  sent  shells  over  our  heads.  When  about  three  hundred 
yards  from  my  position  I  saw  you  fall,  or  lean  down  to  your  horse's 
neck,  and  a  number  of  your  hospital  corps  ran  and  lifted  you  from 
your  horse. 

"  Your  command  never  faltered,  but  swept  on  in  splendid  line  until 
within  eiglity  yards  of  my  position,  when  I  ordered  my  battalion  to 
fire.  You  directed  the  charge  of  your  brigade,  and  it  swept  along  like 
an  avalanche  until  forced  to  retreat  from  the  galling  lire  of  my  com- 
mand so  well  protected  by  our  strong  breast-works.  But  the  retreat 
of  your  brigade  was  orderly." 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  695 

there  been  firing  on  our  side,  while  that  from  the 
Confederate  guns  did  not  obstruct  the  view  of  their 
gunners  and  sharp-shooters.  Not  long  after  this  I 
was  disabled  by  a  rifle  ball,  which  passed  through  my 
left  thigh,  two-thirds  above  the  knee,  and  I  was  then 
helped  to  the  rear.  Soon  after  the  repulse  was 
complete. 

Never  were  there  better  raw  troops,  never  did  men 
under  fire  for  the  first  time  display  more  heroism  than 
did  the  First  brigade.  Second  division  of  the  Nine- 
teenth army  corps,  on  this  occasion.  Captain  Stark, 
of  the  Sixth  Michigan,  who  commanded  the  "forlorn 
hope,"  with  such  of  his  men  as  were  not  killed  in  the 
attempt,  got  so  near  the  enemy's  works  as  to  drive 
some  of  their  gunners  from  their  stations,  but  they 
could  not  climb  over,  and  were  in  force  too  small  to 
accomplish  anything  if  they  had.  They  lay  there  in 
a  hollow,  or  gulch,  until  after  dark,  when  they  got 
back  into  our  lines  as  best  they  might  without  further 
loss.  To  reach  that  point  they  had  passed  through 
fire  that  had  seemed  literally  to  strew  the  ground  with 
bodies.  In  places  our  dead  and  wounded  on  the  field 
were  so  close  that  their  bodies  touched. 

The  courage  of  the  men  was  all  the  more  marked 
because  they,  as  well  as  their  officers,  could  see  the 
nature  of  the  undertaking,  and  were  intelligent 
enough  to  understand  its  difficulty.  There  was  no 
room  for  excitement  or  enthusiasm,  or  anything  to 
sustain  them  save  their  ciuiet  determination  to  do 
their  duty,  and  they  did  it,  and  more  than  ought  to 
have  been  asked  of  them,  because  for  want  of  proper 
support  the  enemy  was  able  to  concentrate  fire  upon 
them,  part  of  which,  by  a  supporting  attack,  might 
have  been  diverted. 


696  REMINISCENCES 

Colonel  Cowles,  of  the  One  Hundred  Twenty-eighth 
New  York,  was  killed,  and  Colonel  Kingsley,  of  the 
Twenty-sixth  Connecticut,  and  Colonel  Clark,  of  the 
Sixth  Michigan,  were  wounded.  Colonel  Kingman, 
of  the  Fifteenth  New  Hampshire,  escaped  without  a 
scratch,  though  very  much  exposed.  I  do  not  believe 
that  an  equal  number  of  veterans,  hardened  to  danger 
in  a  hundred  battles,  could  have  done  better  than  the 
brave  fellows  under  my  command  that  day.  There 
was  no  chance  to  win ;  only  by  our  being  able  to  supply 
men  faster  than  the  enemy  could  put  them  hors  du 
conibat  and  having  enough  left  to  out-number 
our  foes,  could  we  have  climbed  into  their  works. 
The  folly  and  uselessness  of  that  assault  were  suffi- 
ciently established  by  its  result.  That  the  order  for 
it  was  given  upon  insufficient  information  no  one  has 
questioned. 

General  Sherman  and  I  never  met  after  he  left  me 
that  day  upon  the  battle-field,  but  several  years  after, 
I  received  from  him  a  very  friendly  message,  in  which 
he  complimented  most  highly  the  bravery  of  my 
brigade,  and  stated  that  in  all  his  experience,  both  in 
Mexico  and  during  the  war  for  the  Union,  he  had  not 
seen  a  charge  made  under  more  unfavorable  circum- 
stances, and  had  never  seen  a  better  one  than  that 
made  by  the  men  under  my  command  that  day. 
The  General  was  reported  to  have  added,  "and  tell 
General  Dow  that  he  is  now  at  an  age  when  an 
occasional  glass  will  do  him  good."  I  believe  the 
General's  opinion  on  the  first  i)oint  is  entitled  to  more 
weight  tlian  it  is  on  the  latter. 

The  wound  in  my  arm  caused  much  more  pain  than 
did  the  more  dangerous  one  in  my  leg,  but  in  the 
hospital  I  thought  myself  fortunate,  for  there  it  was 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  697 

found  that  besides  the  two  bullets  wounding  me,  one 
had  passed  through  my  coat,  and  another  had  cut 
one  of  my  stockings,  just  grazing  the  leg  above  the 
ankle.  When  the  surgeons  saw  the  wound  in  my  leg 
they  congratulated  me,  saying  that  if  the  ball  had 
varied  a  shade  from  its  course  either  the  bone  would 
have  been  shattered  or  the  artery  cut,  in  either  case 
probably  involving  the  loss  of  the  leg. 

Though  advised  to  go  to  Baton  Rouge,  or  New 
Orleans,  with  other  wounded  officers,  where  I  could 
be  better  cared  for,  I  remained  in  the  hope  of  being  of 
some  service.  My  quarters  in  the  little  hut  being 
unsuitable  for  my  convalescence,  a  small  house  was 
assigned  for  my  use.  Here  I  made  myself  as  comfort- 
able as  possible,  but  after  a  time  the  place  was  needed 
for  hospital  accommodations,  and  I  was  transferred  to 
a  plantation  house  farther  to  our  rear,  but  within  our 
lines. 

This  house  was  occupied  by  a  Mrs.  Cage  and  her 
family,  with  the  usual  retinue  of  a  well-to-do  planter's 
household  of  the  place  and  time  —  some  nine  or  ten 
adults  and  a  dozen  or  more  children  —  but  giving  evi- 
dence in  a  variety  of  ways  of  the  effects  of  war.  In 
one  of  my  letters  home  I  find  the  following  reference 
to  the  existing  conditions: 

"  Southern  society  everywhere  within  reach  of  the  influence 
of  our  armies  is  disorganized  and  disintegrated,  and  slavery  is 
completely  dead.  The  slaves  nowhere  acknowledge  the  author- 
ity of  their  masters,  nor  do  the  latter  attempt  to  exercise  the 
least  control  over  their  slaves.  On  some  places  some  of  the 
negroes  remain,  but  rather  as  masters  than  as  slaves.  They 
do  not  work  unless  they  choose,  and  irregularly  at  that. 
They  await  their  great  change  from  slavery  to  freedom,  which 
is  sure  to  come. 

"  Great  numbers  of  them  are  employed  most  usefully  about 
our  army  here.     They  drive  all  our  wagons  and  do  almost  all 


698  REMINISCENCES 

the  work,  which  but  for  them  thousands  of  soldiers  must  be 
detailed  to  perform.  To-day  I  saw  great  numbers  of  them 
drawn  up  in  military  fashion,  with  spades,  going  to  work. 

"A  brother-in-law  of  my  hostess  has  given  me  some  idea  of 
the  ruin  which  has  come  upon  this  section.  Ho  claims  to  have 
been  opposed  to  the  war,  and  that  he  was  for  letting  well- 
enough  alone.  His  plantation  was  mostly  inside  the  Confed- 
erate parapet.  He  had  a  great  quantity  of  heavy  timber 
which  he  was  cutting  and  selling  at  good  prices.  Since  the 
trou1)les  here,  the  one  hundred  acres  of  it  he  had  left  have 
been  cut  up  and  used,  or  destroyed.  His  buildings  were 
good,  of  brick.  These  are  gone,  also  his  hay,  corn,  cattle, 
horses,  mules,  and  everything.  He  had  a  quantity  of  cotton 
ready  for  the  market.  At  present  prices  it  would  be  worth 
sixty  thousand  dollars.  A  portion  of  it  was  burned  and  the 
rest  taken.  His  plantation  is  now  utterly  desolated,  and  his 
experience  is  the  same  as  that  of  tens  of  thousands  of  others. 
He  says  the  slaves  have  an  idea  that  the  land  will  be  given  to 
them,  and  that  the  whites  w411  have  to  go,  and  admits  that 
many  of  the  whites  are  quite  at  sea  as  to  what  will  happen." 

AVhile  convalescing,  I  felt  tlie  want  of  books  as 
much,  perhaps,  as  any  other  deprivation.  Some  of 
the  neighbors  were  very  kind,  and  loaned  me  what 
they  had,  but  as  the  supply  was  limited,  and  the 
variety  not  great,  they  were  soon  exhausted.  There 
were  several  residents  in  the  vicinity  who  seemed 
to  take  pleasure  in  being  polite  and  courteous,  and  in 
this  particular  I  noticed  no  difference  betAveen  those 
who  claimed  to  be  Union  men  and  those  of  avowed 
Confederate  sympathies. 

Having  now  been  absent  from  home  for  more  than  a 
year,  during  which  time  I  had  been  brought  almost  to 
death's  door  by  malarial  fever,  suffering  from  wounds 
which  would  prevent  my  active  service  for  a  consider- 
able period,  and  believing,  even  if  my  health  and 
strength  would  permit,  that  there  was  no  prospect  of 
my  being  of  further  service  before  Port  Hudson,  I 
applied  for  a  leave  of  absence.     I  felt  more  justified 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  699 

in  this  because  everything  indicated  that  our  true  pol- 
icy was  to  watch  and  wait  for  time  and  starvation  to 
do  their  certain  work,  as  Port  Hudson  was  sure,  in  any 
event,  to  capitulate  when  Vicksburg  fell.  I  hoped 
that,  if  leave  should  be  granted,  at  its  expiration,  to 
secure  a  transfer  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  While 
waiting  for  a  reply  to  my  application,  I  took  such  care 
of  my  health  and  wounds  as  was  possible. 

Time  wore  away  until  my  capture  by  a  squad  of 
Confederate  cavalry,  on  the  evening  of  the  30th  of 
June,  1863.  How  it  came  about  may,  perhaps,  be  best 
told  as  related  by  one  of  the  party  by  whom  the  cap- 
ture was  effected. 

Mr.  Jno.  G.  B.  Simms,  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  has 
already  been  referred  to  as  a  gentleman  who  kindly 
returned  to  me  one  of  the  pistols  taken  from  me  on 
that  occasion.  Subsequently  to  the  correspondence 
then  noted,  I  received  from  him  a  letter,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  copy: 

"Little  Rock,  Ark.,  July  6,  1891. 
Hon.  Neal  Dow,  Portland,  Me. 

Dear  Sir:  —  Some  weeks  ago,  at  the  instance  of  one  of  my 
old  comrades,  I  wrote  the  enclosed  account  concerning  your 
capture,  and  it  found  its  way  into  print.  In  the  interest  of 
that  verity  which  should  characterize  history,  I  would  be  glad 
to  have  you  attach  a  note  to  this  communication  and  return  it 
to  me,  attesting  the  truth  of  this  statement,  so  far  as  you 
know.  You  may  remember  me  as  one  who  returned  to  you, 
a  few  years  ago,  one  of  the  pistols  taken  from  you  on  that 
eventful  night.  I  shall  appreciate  greatly  a  few  words 
written  by  yourself.     With  great  respect,  I  am, 

Yours,  etc., 

Jno.  G.  B.  Simms." 

The  newspaper  clipping  he  enclosed  ran  as  follows: 

"  Some  time  in  June,  I  think,  in  1863,  the  Federal  army 
having  besieo:ed  the  garrison  in  Port  Hudson,  La.,  I,  with  a 


700  REMINISCENCES 

squad  of  three  men,  was  scouting  in  the  rear  of  that  place. 
A  lady,  Mrs.  Brown,  came  out  of  the  Federal  lines  and 
informed  me  that  General  Dow  had  been  wounded  some  six 
weeks  before  and  was  then  at  the  residence  of  a  Mrs.  Cage, 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  his  brigade  encampment, 
but  within  their  lines,  recuperating.  She  further  said  that 
he  could  be  easily  captured,  and  agreed  to  pilot  a  squad  of 
men  to  his  residence.  The  squad  organized,  consisting  of 
John  McKowen,  a  lieutenant  at  home  on  furlough  from  the 
Virginia  army ;  John  R.  Petty,  Wilson  Medearis  and  myself 
from  the  Seventeenth  Arkansas,  young  Haynes,  who  lived  in 
the  neighborhood,  and  a  fellow  whose  name  I  cannot  recall,  if 
I  ever  knew  it  —  we  called  him  '  Tex,'  he  having  those 
letters  on  the  front  of  his  white  hat. 

"McKowen  was  agreed  upon  as  commander  for  the  occasion. 
We  repaired  to  a  point  outside  the  lines,  where  by  the  direc- 
tion of  Mrs.  Brown,  we  remained  till  just  at  dark,  when  she 
met  us,  and,  riding  just  far  enough  ahead  to  be  seen,  she  led 
the  way  to  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  Mrs.  Cage's  house. 
She  then,  in  detail,  made  known  to  us  the  arrangement  of 
Mrs.  Cage's  house,  the  yard,  the  lots,  etc.,  so  that  we  might 
not  hesitate,  and  fearing  for  her  life,  if  caught  with  us,  she 
here  left  us.  She  had  previously  arranged  for  the  General 
to  be  engaged  at  home  that  evening  in  a  game  of  cards* 
with  Mrs.  Cage,  and  of  course  advised  her  of  our  coming,  to 
avoid  surprise. 

•'Following  directions,  we  marched  up  to  the  house,  the 
dogs  barking  (it  was  al)out  ten  o'clock  at  night)  and  the 
moon  about  half  full.  Rapidly  leaving  our  horses,  we 
entered  the  house,  and  capturing  two  orderlies  who  were 
lying  on  the  gallery,  we  proceeded  into  the  room  where  the 
General  was  to  be,  but  he  was  gone  !  Mrs.  Cage  informed 
us  that  he  had  ridden  over  nearer  the  camp  to  another  house, 
where  he  had  taken  tea  with  two  of  his  regimental  officers, 
and  that  if  we  would  go  there  we  might  capture  all  three. 
One  man  must  necessarily  guard  the  two  prisoners,  but  we 
determined  to  go  —  five  of  us  to  bag  them  all. 

"  Leaving  the  house  we  mounted,  and  upon  passing  out  of 
the  lot  some  controversy  arose  as  to  the  road.  Just  then, 
looking  off  to  the  left,  inside  the  lot,  in  the  shade  of  a  tree, 
sat  a  man,  clad  in  white,  on  horseback.  John  Petty  and  I 
drew  our  revolvers,  galloped  up  to  him,  and  asked  him  if 
that  was  General  Dow,  and  he  replied  : 

*See  General  Dow's  reply  to  Mr.  Siinms. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  701 

"  'Yes,  sir.' 

"  '  Surrender,  or  I'll  kill  you  ! '  came  quickly  from  us  l)oth. 
He  hesitated  a  moment  in  seeming  surprise,  then  answered  : 

"  'I'll  surrender,  sir  —  I'll  go  with  you.'  These  were  his 
words. 

"  We  galloped  off  with  the  three  prisoners,  and  traveled  all 
night  —  in  a  gallop  for  several  hours  —  and  next  morning  we 
stopped  for  breakfast  at  a  house  whose  inmates  we  knew. 
Greatly  fatigued,  I  agreed  to  stay  here  with  the  plunder 
whilst  the  others  went  to  camp  with  the  prisoners.  We 
divided  the  plunder  into  six  parcels  and  cast  lots  for  the  first 
choice  and  so  on.  John  Petty  got  the  first  choice  and  took 
the  General's  saddle-horse,  a  fine  chestnut  sorrel.  John 
McKowen  got  second,  and  took  his  sword,  a  handsome  pearl- 
handled  one.  I  got  third,  and  took  his  brace  of  six-shooters 
of  the  Allen  make,  and  encased  in  })atent  leather  holsters. 
One  of  these  I  sold  to  Dave  Goodlett  after  the  surrender, 
the  other  I  kept  until  about  two  years  ago,  when  I  expressed 
it  to  the  General,  at  Portland,  Me.,  and  have  his  kind 
acknowledgment  of  the  same." 

Replying  to  Mr.  Simms  as  he  requested,  I  wrote  a 
note,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy: 

"Portland,  Me.,  July  15,  1891. 
Dear  Sir: — I  have  your  note  of  the  6th  June,  and  the 
newspaper  slip  enclosed.  Your  account  of  my  capture  is 
correct  in  all  important  particulars.  I  have  marked  one 
error,  the  others  are  of  no  importance.  I  had  no  engagement 
to  play  cards.  I  have  never  played  even  one  game  since  my 
early  youth,  and  do  not  know  a  Jack  from  a  King  or  Queen. 

Respectfully,  Neal  Dow.'^ 

That  account  may  be  regarded  as  substantially 
correct,  though  after  tlie  lapse  of  so  many  years 
unimportant  errora  are  likely  to  occur.  I  have  seen 
in  print  many  different  stories  of  my  capture  —  no  two 
of  them  alike  —  said  to  have  been  written  by  parties 
who  participated  in  it  —  several  more  accounts  than 
my  captors  numbered.  My  own  recollection,  though 
not  entirely  distinct,  is  as  follows: 


702  KEMINISCENCES 

I  had  been  to  the  front  and  was  returning  to  my 
quarters  to  get  some  articles  I  needed,  intending  to  go 
back  to  the  front  that  evening,  as  one  of  my  guard 
had  been  captured  the  night  before,  and  I  feared  that 
through  him  my  whereabouts  might  be  learned  and  a 
raid  made  to  capture  me.  The  house  where  I  was 
staying  was  surrounded  by  a  high  board  fence.  It 
was  in  the  early  evening,  and  as  light  as  day  when  I 
rode  into  the  yard,  to  find  myself  confronted  by  a 
number  of  men  and  covered  with  carbines  and  pistols. 
I  was  alone,  without  weapons,  and,  had  I  been  armed, 
resistance,  or  an  effort  to  escape,  would  have  been  use- 
less, and  there  was  nothing  but  to  submit  to  the 
demand  made  upon  me  to  surrender.  I  found  that 
they  had  also  secured  one  of  my  guards,  a  man  who 
had  lived  in  New  Orleans,  and  had  served  in  the  Con- 
federate ranks  there.  I  got  an  opportunity  to  warn 
him  not  to  disclose  that  fact,  however,  to  his  captors, 
and  I  think  they  never  learned  of  it. 

Subsequently  I  was  told  that  our  rear  was  entirely 
unguarded,  and  that  a  few  hundred  of  the  enemy's 
cavalry,  under  a  bold  leader,  might  have  surprised 
and  raided  our  position  from  center  to  either  flank 
with  ease,  doing  great  damage.  As  it  was,  by  my 
capture  an  alarm  was  given,  resulting  in  ordinary  pre- 
cautions being  taken.  I  was  afterwards  informed 
that  my  men,  thinking  I  had  been  betrayed  by  the 
occupants  of  the  house  where  I  was  staying,  set  fire  to 
it  and  destroyed  it.  I  cannot  vouch  for  either  of 
these  statements. 

Having  made  sure  of  their  prisoner,  my  captors 
possessed  themselves  as  speedily  as  possible  of  my 
sword,  pistols,  etc.,  which  were  in  my  room,  and  I 
was  hurried  off  to  Camp  Logan,  about  twelve  miles 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  703 

distant.  I  had  mounted  my  horse  the  day  before 
for  the  first  time  since  I  was  wounded,  and  the  ride 
was,  of  course,  very  trying  in  my  feeble  condition, 
and  it  was  not  made  more  comfortable  by  my  vexation 
and  humiliation  at  being  captured.  By  reference 
to  a  letter  before  me,  I  find  that  I  wrote  the  next 
day  to  my  wife,  in  notifying  her  of  my  capture: 

"  You  will  be  glad  to  learn  that  all  the  officers  seemed  dis- 
posed to  make  the  situation  as  endurable  as  possible.  I  was 
treated  very  courteously,  and  was  made  as  comfortable  as  the 
situation  and  exigencies  "would  permit." 

On  the  next  day  after  my  capture,  my  Journey 
toward  Richmond  was  commenced,  and,  with  two 
guards,  I  started  on  horseback  for  Jackson,  Miss., 
about  one  hundred  miles,  if  I  remember  aright. 
I  do  not  know  how  long  we  were  on  that  part  of 
our  journey,  but  think  it  was  more  than  two  days, 
with  such  parts  of  the  night  as  we  rode.  I  am  not 
sure  whether  we  went  all  the  way  on  horseback,  or 
partly  by  wagon  and  partly  by  rail.  I  had  not 
sufficiently  recovered  from  chagrin  at  my  situation 
for  such  details  to  impress  themselves  upon  my 
mind. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


MY    EXPERIENCES     AND    OBSERVATIONS    AS    A    PRISONER     OF 
WAR.  WHAT     I     SAW     OF     THE     SOUTH     AT     THAT 

TIME.  KINDNESSES      AND      COURTESIES      EX- 

TENDED     TO     ME.  ESCAPE      OF      THE 

UNION      OFFICERS      FROM      LIBBY 
PRISON.        MY     EXCHANGE 
FOR  GENERAL  FITZ- 
HUGH    LEE. 


In  relating  my  experiences  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  I 
must  necessarily  refer  to  hardships  and  sufferings, 
not  in  a  spirit  of  complaint,  but  as  a  record  of  facts, 
showing  conditions  inseparable  from  a  state  of  war, 
and  to  which  those  who  are  so  unfortunate  as  to  be 
taken  captive  are  inevitably  subjected.  Here,  once 
for  all,  I  desire  to  say  that  I  am  satisfied  that  I 
suffered  few  discomforts  that  could  have  been  reason- 
ably avoided  by  those  into  whose  hands  I  fell. 

Arriving  at  Jackson,  I  was  taken  to  the  Marble-yard 
prison,  and  was  turned  into  a  dirty  room,  without 
furniture  of  any  kind,  with  a  single  window  without 
glass,  the  light  and  air  being  partially  obstructed  by 
boards  nailed  over  it.  This  window  overlooked  a 
pig-pen.  The  room  contained  a  pile  of  lumber  and 
some  old  blinds.      Placing  the  latter  on  the  lumber 


REMIXISCENCES    OF    XEAL    DOW.  705 

to  serve  in  a  measure  as  springs  to  soften  my  couch,  I 
laid  down  to  rest,  being  well-nigh  exhausted. 

In  a  short  time  two  Confederate  officers  came  into 
the  room.  I  made  no  complaint  to  them  whatever, 
and  said  nothing  of  the  discomforts  of  my  position, 
but  after  looking  about  a  little  they  went  out,  and 
soon  a  bedstead  with  mattress  and  bedding  was 
brought  in,  to  my  great  relief.  In  this  pen  I  passed, 
I  think,  two  days,  one  of  them  being  July  4,  1863, 
with  nothing  to  eat  but  raw  bacon  and  wretched  hard 
bread,  or  "ship-stuff,"  as  they  called  it,  made  of 
"middlings." 

After  two  days'  stay  at  Jackson,  we  started  for 
Montgomery,  Alabama.  My  escorting  officers  did  not 
tell  me  their  names,  nor  did  I  ask  them,  but  they 
were  very  polite  and  considerate.  In  conversation 
with  them  I  made  no  allusion  to  what  seemed  to  me 
my  unnecessarily  harsh  treatment  at  Jackson,  but  one 
of  them  volunteered  to  say  that  it  was  by  way  of 
retaliation  for  the  similar  treatment,  by  his  Union 
captors,  of  the  Confederate  general,  Magruder,  in 
some  other  department.  I  had  not  then  heard  of  the 
circumstances,  but  replied  that  I  could  not  believe  it 
to  be  true,  and  afterwards  learned  the  accusation  to  be 
false. 

Few  incidents  of  my  travels  through  the  heart  of 
the  Confederacy  as  a  prisoner  of  war  —  I  thus  made 
three  extensive  trips  —  impressed  themselves  upon  my 
mind,  and  I  had  no  opportunity,  or  desire,  for  that 
matter,  to  record  them  at  the  time.  My  thoughts 
were  far  away,  and  I  took  little  note  of  what  I  saw 
and  experienced.  Some  things,  however,  I  have  not 
forgotten,  but  it  is  probable  that  my  recollection  is 
greatly  confused  as  to  the  order  of  their  occurrence. 


706  KEMINISCENCES 

Quite  a  portion  of  my  journey  was  made  in  a 
wagon,  giving  me  a  favorable  opportunity  to  observe 
the  condition  of  the  country,  and  my  vexation  at 
being  captured  was  mitigated,  in  a  measure,  by  what 
I  was  enabled  to  see  and  report,  as  I  did,  to  our 
government,  that  the  Confederate  armies  were  as  a 
mere  empty  egg-shell;  there  was  nothing  behind 
them,  the  country  being  drained  of  its  materials  and 
able-bodied  men.  On  those  trips  I  received  several 
calls  from  elderly  men  who  said  that  they  had  known 
of  me  before  the  war,  and  I  was  surprised,  as  well  as 
pleased,  by  the  kindness  shown  me.  But  I  was 
doubly  gratified  by  the  unmistakable  signs  of  weari- 
ness which  convinced  me  that  the  overthrow  of  the 
Confederacy  was  only  a  matter  of  time. 

In  some  cases  we  stopped  at  hotels,  and  sometimes 
at  private  houses.  The  latter  gave  evidence  of  being 
the  homes  of  well-to-do  people,  but  everywhere  were 
signs  of  the  ruin  wrought  by  war.  Otherwise  well- 
appointed  tables  showed  most  clearly  that  the  larder 
was  lean  and  poor,  and  that  the  country  did  not 
afford  the  wherewithal  for  anything  better. 

I  became  satisfied  from  what  I  saw  that  our  people 
at  the  North  could  have  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  sacri- 
fices made  by  the  South  and  the  sufferings  its  people 
were  enduring  for  their  cause.  Even  then  I  saw, 
as  every  intelligent  man  with  my  opportunities  for 
observation  must  have  seen,  that,  presuming  in  the 
North  anything  like  the  same  devotion  and  endurance 
as  in  the  South,  the  final  collapse  of  the  Confederacy 
was  certain. 

At  Montgomery  quite  a  number  of  citizens  met 
me  at  the  train,  and  went  with  me  to  the  hotel. 
There  was    considerable    conversation    among    them 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  T07 

in  my  presence  as  to  the  unanimity  of  the  South 
and  its  determination  to  fight  to  the  bitter  end, 
and  it  was  said  that  there  were  no  Union  men 
anywhere  among  them;  but  in  walking  to  the 
hotel,  when  there  was  only  one  man  within  speak- 
ing distance,  he  seized  the  opportunity  to  say  to 
me,  referring  to  the  statement  that  there  were  no 
Union  men  among  them,  "That  is  all  a  mistake. 
I  am  one,  and  there  are  many  others  whom  I  know. " 

On  one  occasion  I  was  taken  by  my  guard  to  dine 
at  what  I  remember  as  a  church  fair.  I  do  not 
recollect  the  name  of  the  place,  but  it  was  quite  a 
sizable  village.  There  were  quite  a  number  of  women 
at  the  fair,  but  only  one  man  whom  I  can  recall 
besides  my  escort  and  myself.  He  was  an  elderly 
man,  and  I  had  a  conversation  with  him,  in  which 
he  deplored  the  war,  admitting  the  hopeless  and 
impoverished  condition  of  the  South.  I  think  he 
was  then  mourning  the  recent  loss  of  some  relative 
or  friend,  and  was  very  solemn  and  reserved,  though 
courteous  and  friendly. 

The  ladies  were  all  very  polite.  Some  of  them 
told  me  that  tliey  had  heard  of  me  before  the  war, 
and  sympathized  with  my  temperance  views,  but 
others  had  also  heard  of  me  as  an  abolitionist, 
and  that,  with  the  fact  that  I  was  a  Union  general, 
prevented  any  degree  of  cordiality.  I  could  not 
avoid  the  conclusion,  strongly  impressed  upon  me 
by  their  depression,  that  they  were  all  expecting 
the  failure  of  the  Confederacy.  There  was  probably 
no  woman  at  that  fair  who  did  not  have  a  father, 
a  brother,  a  husband  or  a  son  at  the  front,  unless, 
indeed,  they  had  already  fallen  there.  Some  of 
them,  doubtless,  had  given  up  all  their  male  relatives 


708  KEMINISCENCES 

to  ^erve  what  they  believed  to  be  a  righteous  cause. 
In  the  presence  of  their  great  grief  and  anxiety, 
my  ow^n  troubles,  sustained  as  I  was  by  my  certainty 
of  Union  success,  now  that  I  had  seen  the  inside 
of  the  Confederacy,  seemed  slight.  A  sad  sight, 
indeed,  is  that  of  a  great  people  bearing  the  burden 
of  their  concealed  conviction  that  that  for  which 
they  are  praying  and  suffering  is,  after  all  their 
sacrifices,  to  come  to  naught. 

All  through  that  journey  I  continued  to  be  an 
object  of  curiosity  to  the  people  whom  I  met.  At 
several  stations  considerable  groups  had  gathered 
to  see  the  "Abolition  and  Temperance  Yankee 
General  "  but  nowhere  was  I  subjected  to  any 
annoyance  not  necessarily  connected  with  the  fact 
that  I  was  a  prisoner.  I  have  read  several  news- 
paper stories  of  my  being  threatened  with  a  mob 
at  some  point.  These  accounts  have  varied  in 
every  detail  except  as  to  the  character  of  the  mob, 
and  that  was  always  described  as  bloodthirsty  in 
the  extreme,  and  determined  to  hang  me  at  the 
nearest  lamp-post.  I  have  been  represented  by  some 
of  these  as  being  entirely  unnerved  by  the  imminent 
danger  of  speedy  and  ignominious  death,  and  by 
others  as  calmly  awaiting  it,  and  preparing  for  it 
by  putting  on  my  full  uniform  as  a  Union  general. 

If  such  danger  existed,  my  guards  must  have  con- 
siderately kept  me  in  ignorance  of  it.  I  have  no 
recollection  whatever  of  anything  of  the  kind,  save 
that  at  one  place  the  train  was  stopped  some  distance 
out  of  the  station,  for  the  purpose,  as  I  was  told  by 
one  of  my  guard,  of  avoiding  all  risk  of  trouble  from  a 
larger  crowd  than  usual  which  had  assembled  there  to 
see  me.     As  to  the  report  of  my  attiring  myself  in  my^ 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  709 

uniform,  as  a  suitable  preparation  to  meet  "Judge 
Lyncli,"  I  have  only  to  say  that  I  had  no  uniform, 
and  the  best  garment  of  which  I  could  boast  on 
the  trip  was  a  long,  much  worn,  travel-stained  linen 
duster  —  not  exactly  the  kind  of  garment  to  set  off 
the  ' '  cool  courage  "  with  which  I  was  said  to  await 
my  threatened  lynching. 

We  stayed  over  night  at  one  town  where,  after  we 
were  settled  at  our  hotel,  I  was  invited  by  the  officers 
who  had  me  in  charge  to  visit  with  them  a  resort  for 
card-playing.  I  told  them  I  never  played  cards,  and 
did  not  know  one  card  from  another.  They  politely 
offered  to  teach  me,  but  I  did  not  care  to  learn. 
They  urged  me  so  persistently  to  go  that  finally  sus- 
pecting that  their  object  was  to  keep  me  within  view 
without  losing  the  sport  in  which  they  delighted,  I 
offered  to  keep  watch  in  their  place  over  myself,  prom- 
ising to  deliver  their  prisoner  to  their  care  all  right 
in  the  morning,  inevitable  accident  only  excepted. 
My  proposition  was  accepted,  and  in  the  early  morn- 
ing hours  my  guards  returned,  finding  their  prisoner 
ready  to  turn  himself  over  again  to  their  keeping. 

Arriving  in  Richmond  on  Saturday,  July  11,  1863, 
the  twelfth  day  after  my  capture,  I  learned  of  an  exist- 
ing difficulty  about  exchanges,  and  concluded  that 
I  was  ' '  in  for  it "  for  some  time.  Reaching  the  famous 
Libby  prison  I  found  the  anteroom  thronged  with 
Confederate  officers,  who  crowded  about  me  with  a 
not  impolite  or  offensive  curiosity,  many  of  them  ask- 
ing me  if  I  was  indeed  ' '  the  Neal  Dow  of  Temperance 
and  Maine-Law  fame  "  of  whom  they  professed  to  have 
heard.  With  all  the  modesty  to  be  commanded  in  the 
face  of  such  marked  attention,  I  admitted  the  fact  and 
received  with  as  much  grace  as  possible  their  good- 

46 


710  KEMIXISCEXCES 

natured  and  jocular  expressions  of  gratification  that 
they  were  to  have  the  honor  of  entertaining  me.  I 
assured  them  of  my  confidence  that  under  the  circum- 
stances their  hospitality  would  be  so  pressed  upon  me 
that  I  could  not  avoid  it,  if  I  would,  and  begged  them 
not  to  let  me  wear  my  welcome  out. 

Our  conversation  was  so  good-natured,  and  the  man- 
ifestations of  courtesy  on  each  side  were  so  marked, 
that  some  newspaper  reporters  who  were  present  mis- 
understood it,  or  misrepresented  it,  and  the  Richmond 
papers  of  the  next  day,  referring  to  me,  claimed  that  I 
was  opposed  to  a  war  of  coercion,  and  that  when  I  got 
home  I  would  favor  the  best  attainable  peace.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  scores  of  letters  of  mine,  written 
while  I  was  in  the  army,  advocating  the  most  active 
and  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  Avar,  not  only  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Union  but  for  the  overthrow  of 
slavery,  had  been  published  throughout  England  as 
well  as  America,  this  statement  was  very  absurd. 
Commenting  upon  this  report,  some  of  our  papers 
made  extracts  from  those  letters,  one  of  which  was  as 
follows: 

"  We  long  for  harmony  and  peace,  and  are  resolved  to 
have  them  on  a  permanent  l^asis,  to  wit :  the  unconditional 
suppression  of  the  rebellion,  and  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves." 

Prior  to  this,  I  had  visited  Richmond,  addressing 
public  meetings  there,  and  had  met  many  of  its  citi- 
zens. The  day  after  my  arrival  several  called  upon 
me  in  the  prison,  and  all  of  them  were  courteous  and 
kind.  I  had  relatives  there  whom  I  had  visited,  and 
who  had  been  at  my  home  in  Maine,  and,  without 
thinking  of  the  changed  conditions  attending  a  civil 
war,  I  sent  a  note  informing  them  of  my  presence  in 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  711 

the  city.  While  I  did  not  ask  them  to  call,  my 
address  in  Richmond  —  Libby  Prison  —  was  such  as  to 
convey  the  idea  that  if  I  was  to  have  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  them  it  would  be  due  to  an  effort  on  their  part. 

My  note  had  hardly  been  sent  before  the  indiscre- 
tion of  my  attempting  to  communicate  with  them, 
as  likely  to  subject  them  to  espionage,  occurred  to 
me.  But  it  was  too  late,  and  I  could  not  recall  it. 
Some  time  after,  a  Confederate  officer  manifested 
interest  in  the  matter,  and  politely,  and,  as  I  thought, 
cunningly,  asked  me  if  I  had  heard  from  my  ' '  friends 
in  Richmond."  I  had  not  heard,  and  told  him  so. 
He  seemed  satisfied;  at  least,  he  expressed  neither 
regret  nor  surprise.  Later,  however,  a.  party  visited 
the  prison,  some  wearing  the  dress  of  civilians,  and 
some  the  uniforms  of  Confederate  officers.  One  of 
the  latter,  a  young  man,  in  the  uniform  of  a  lieu- 
tenant, watching  for  an  opportunity  for  a  word 
with  me  alone,  said  very  quietly  that  my  cousin 
had  received  my  note,  but  that  circumstances  ren- 
dered it  imprudent  and  impossible  for  other  attention 
than  this  message.  I  should  have  thought  of  that 
before  sending  my  note.  After  the  war,  however, 
my  cousin  again  visited  my  house  in  Portland,  and 
I  her  home  in  Richmond. 

At  Libby  I  was  as  comfortable  as  could  be  expected. 
It  is  astonishing  how  easily  and  how  soon  necessity 
accustoms  one  to  be  satisfied  with  what  would  be 
intolerably  burdensome  if  the  way  to  avoid  them 
were  open.  On  the  29th  of  July  I  wrote  to  my  wife, 
' '  I  am  going  to  Mobile  to-morrow,  for  what  I  am  not 
informed.  I  am  very  well.  Give  yourself  no  uneasi- 
ness on  my  account." 

My  removal  to  Mobile  was  the  cause  of  a  great 


712  REMINISCENCES 

deal  of  speculation  and  anxiety  on  the  part  of  my 
friends.  All  sorts  of  conjectures  relative  to  it 
appeared  in  the  public  prints,  North  and  South. 
It  was  said  that  I  was  to  be  shot,  to  be  confined 
with  a  ball  and  chain,  and  to  be  subjected  to  a  great 
variety  of  pains  and  penalties,  among  them  hanging. 
My  family  was  much  alarmed  by  these  stories,  and 
my  friends  generally  were  exercised.  Among  others 
who  took  a  special  interest  in  the  case  were  Horace 
Grreeley,  Charles  Sumner,  and  Henry  Wilson,  from 
each  of  whom  letters  were  received  by  my  wife.  She 
also  received  a  friendly  and  reassuring  note  from 
President  Lincoln,  to  whom  the  following  memorial 
from  citizens  of  Maine,  resident  in  Washington,  had 
been  presented. 

To  Abraham  Lincoln, 

President  of  the  United  States  of  America  : 

The  undersigned,  citizens  of  the  state  of  Maine,  resident  in 
this  city,  would  respectfully  represent  to  Your  Excellency 
that  General  Neal  Dow,  of  Portland,  in  said  state,  was 
seriously  wounded  in  one  of  the  assaults  made  on  the  bat- 
teries at  Port  Hudson  and  sent  into  the  hospital  for  treatment 
of  his  w^ound.  While  there  he  was  made  a  prisoner  of  war 
by  the  rebels  and  taken  to  Richmond,  Va. 

It  is  now  reported  that  Jeff.  Davis  has  given  him  into  the 
hands  of  the  governor  of  Alabama  on  a  requisition  from  that 
functionary,  to  be  put  on  his  trial,  under  the  laws  of  that 
state,  on  the  charge,  it  is  understood,  of  stealing  negroes,  the 
penalty  for  which  is  death.  The  result  of  such  a  trial,  in 
such  a  place  and  under  existing  circumstances,  no  one  need 
be  told  who  knows  the  animus  of  that  people.  It  will  only 
prove  a  cloak  to  cover  up  a  deliberate  and  malicious  murder. 

Your  petitioners,  therefore,  most  respectfully  and  earnestly 
ask  that  Your  Excellency  will  order  that  Jeff.  Davis  and  the 
governor  of  Alabama  both  be  notified  that  General  Dow  must 
be  in  all  respects  treated  as  a  prisoner  of  war ;  that  any  other 
treatment  of  him  will  l)c  retaliated  on  rebel  officers  in  your 
hands,  in  full  measure  ;  and  that  you  forthwith  make  pu?jlic 
proclamation  of  such  purpose  in  this  case. 


OF    NEAL    DOW,  713 

We  are  fully  aware  that  your  recent  general  order  covers 
the  case  of  General  Dow,  and  with  reference  to  ordinary  men 
it  would  be  sufficient.  But  General  Dow,  from  his  position 
in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  among  his  citizens  at  home 
and  his  relation  to  the  civilization  of  this  age,  is  an  exception 
to  ordinary  men,  and,  therefore,  his  case,  we  deem,  should  be 
made  an  exceptional  one,  receiving  the  special  attention 
and  intervention  of  the  government. 

General  Dow  is  one  of  the  representative  men,  one  of  the 
prophets  of  this  age,  and  as  such  is  of  special  worth  to  his 
country  and  the  human  race.  He  is  known  and  honored  as 
such,  especially  among  the  friends  of  temperance  and  virtue, 
in  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world.  Such  being  his  special 
and  exceptional  character,  it  seems  to  us  that  his  case  should 
be  made  a  special  and  exceptional  one  by  the  government. 
It  is  for  these,  among  other  reasons,  that  we  ask  your  special 
action  for  his  protection  from  the  outrages  and  wrongs  with 
which  he  is  threatened  by  his  and  our  country's  enemies.  We 
trust  our  prayer  will  not  be  in  vain,  nor  your  action  without 
effect.  An  early  decision  is  most  respectfully  and  earnestly 
solicited. 

This  petition  was  drawn  up  by  the  Rev.  Darius 
Forbes,  formerly  of  Portland,  and  signed  by  him  and 
many  other  residents  of  Washington.  But  of  all  the 
efforts  and  anxiety  on  my  behalf  I  knew  nothing. 

My  journey  to  Mobile  was  without  special  incident 
or  interest,  being  a  repetition  in  detail  and  observa- 
tion of  that  from  Jackson  to  Richmond.  On  this 
trip,  as  on  the  other  two,  I  was  alive  to  the  signs 
apparent  all  about  me  of  the  coming  exhaustion 
which  I  saw  was  certain  to  overtake  the  South,  and 
that  was  the  one  great  fact  of  absorbing  interest  to 
me.  I  arrived  in  Mobile  on  the  6th  of  August,  and 
was  taken  to  the  Provost  Guard  House,  where  I  found 
myself  much  more  pleasantly  situated  than  in  Rich- 
mond, and  where,  while  my  friends  in  the  North 
were  filled  with  anxiety  on  my  behalf,  I  was  made, 
through  the  influence  of    southern   gentlemen  who 


714  EEMINISCENCES 

had  been  my  prisoners,   as  comfortable  as   possible 
under  the  circumstances. 

I  had  a  large,  airy  chamber  to  myself,  with  a  wide 
view  of  town  and  country.  At  its  door,  to  be  sure, 
and  under  its  windows,  were  stationed  sentinels,  but 
this  did  not  in  any  way  prevent  those  who  had  pro- 
fessed to  feel  under  obligations  to  me  from  calling 
upon  me,  or  sending  me  books  and  papers,  or  from 
contributing  in  other  ways  to  my  comfort.  Among 
those  who  were  exceedingly  kind  and  polite  were 
Judge  Victor  Burthe  and  ex-Mayor  Monroe,  of  New 
Orleans.  The  latter  brought  with  him  a  friend, 
whose  name  I  do  not  recall,  but  who  was  very 
courteous. 

Mayor  Monroe  and  several  of  his  friends  had  been 
for  some  time  my  prisoners,  and  I  had  done  every- 
thing in  my  power  to  make  them  comfortable,  and 
now  they,  in  their  turn,  were  very  kind  to  me.  While 
in  command  at  Carrolton  I  had  had  the  pleasure  of 
rendering  an  important  service  to  Judge  Burthe  and 
his  son,  for  which  he  was  very  grateful,  and  while  I 
was  at  Mobile  he  sent  me  books,  and  in  other  ways 
contributed  to  my  comfort,  at  considerable  expense  to 
him,  and  only  my  protests  against  it  prevented  his 
pressing  more  upon  me. 

But  while  I  was  experiencing  such  kindness,  owing 
to  the  difficulty  of  communication,  my  friends  at  the 
North  continued  anxious,  and  even  some  of  my  per- 
sonal enemies  in  Portland  apparently  relented  in  their 
hostility.  While  at  Mobile  I  received  a  letter  from 
home  stating  that  a  prominent  citizen  of  Portland, 
who  had  been  a  very  bitter,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  me, 
unreasonable,  personal  opponent  of  mine,  one  who  for 
years  had  lost  no  opportunity  to  assail  me,  in  public 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  715 

and  private,  had  recently  become  interested  in  relig- 
ious matters,  and  liad  prayed  in  a  union  prayer- 
meeting  for  my  safety  and  return  —  a  striking 
instance  of  how  far  the  stories  of  what  I  was  to  suffer 
had  had  an  influence. 

Writing  home  under  date  of  September  6,  1863,  I 
said: 

"  I  am  very  comfortable  here,  missing  most  my  letters 
from  home.  I  do  not  know  where  the  fault  lies  that  your 
letters  do  not  come.  A  prisoner  is  like  a  sick  man  in  a 
charity  hospital,  dependent  on  nurses  who  have  no  interest. 
He  cannot  help  himself,  and  nobody  cares.  I  hear  not  a 
w^ord  from  outside,  but  am  in  capital  spirits  and  entirely 
patient.     Exchanges  will  come  by  and  by." 

Soon  after  my  confinement  in  Mobile  the  officer  in 
immediate  command  of  my  guard  told  me  that  he  was 
at  heart  a  Union  man,  serving  in  the  Confederate 
forces  only  as  a  matter  of  prudence  and  through  com- 
pulsion, and  that  he  was  awaiting  an  opportunity  to 
desert.  He  also  treated  me  with  all  the  consideration 
that  he  consistently  could.  One  day  he  took  me  into 
a  room  adjoining  mine  and  showed  me  a  hole  in  the 
wall  through  which  a  prisoner  had  escaped,  and 
which  was  still  unrepaired.  When  we  returned  to  my 
room  I  noticed  that  he  neglected  to  lock  the  door,  and 
I  took  that  as  an  intimation  that  he  would  have  no 
objection  to  my  escaping  if  I  could.  The  attempt, 
however,  even  had  I  been  young  and  in  good  health, 
would  have  been  foolhardy  in  the  extreme. 

Some  time  after  my  exchange  that  officer,  having 
been  sent  to  the  front,  deserted  and  entered  our  lines, 
and  was  taken  to  the  deserters'  camp  at  Cincinnati,  if 
I  remember  aright.  There  he  referred  to  me  for  evi- 
dence of  his  loyalty,  and  in  due  time  inquiry  was 
made  of  me  by  the  proper  authorities,  and  what  I  was 


716  KEMINISCENCES 

able  to  say  of  his  representations  to  me  while  I  was  a 
prisoner  secured  his  treatment  in  all  respects  as  a  reli- 
able friend  of  the  Union. 

After  a  stay  in  Mobile  of  two  months,  I  was  taken 
again  to  Richmond,  where  I  arrived  on  the  12th  of 
October,  having  been  six  days  on  the  road.  My  expe- 
rience on  this  trip  was  similar  to  that  in  the  others  I 
had  taken  in  the  Confederacy.  I  had  now  traversed 
over  twenty-five  hundred  miles,  almost  every  mile,  and 
every  moment  of  the  time  spent  in  covering  it,  fur- 
nishing evidence  to  me  of  the  utter  hopelessness  of  the 
southern  cause.  Everywhere  we  stopped  a  crowd  was 
at'  the  station  to  see  me,  and  at  one  place,  in  North 
Carolina,  the  people  actually  called  for  a  speech.  I 
did  leave  the  train  and  talked  to  many  of  them  indi- 
vidually. At  Richmond  I  had  the  opportunity  of 
using  the  evidence  I  had  obtained  while  behind  the 
curtain,  not  only  laying  it  before  my  brother  officers 
confined  in  Libby  prison,  but  communicating  it  also 
to  the  secretary  of  war,  as  I  shall  hereafter  explain. 

On  my  way  to  Richmond  1  was  informed  that  I  was 
to  be  exchanged  for  the  Confederate  General  Morgan, 
who  had  been  captured  during  his  daring  raid  into 
Ohio.  I  was  not  a  little  astonished,  therefore,  to 
receive  one  day  a  call  from  that  energetic  and  dis- 
tinguished officer,  who  had  succeeded  in  escaping 
into  the  Confederate  lines.  He  was  very  polite,  and 
we  had  a  pleasant  conversation,  which,  under  the 
circumstances,  must  have  been  more  agreeable  to  him 
than  to  me,  though  I  enjoyed  it.  The  next  day  the 
Richmond  Enquirer  had  the  following  account  of  our 
interview : 

"General  Morgan,  on  arriving  upstairs,  where  the  prison- 
ers 'most  do  congregate,'  was  immediately  conducted  into  the 


OF    XExVL    DOAV.  717 

presence  of  the  '  author  of  the  Maine  Liquor  Law,' the  whilom 
Brigadier-General  Dow.  An  introduction  took  place,  when 
General  ]Moro-an  observed,  with  one  of  those  inimitable  smiles 
for  which  he  is  so  noted,  '  General  Dow,  I  am  very  happy  to 
see  you  here ;  or,  rather,  I  should  say,  since  you  are  here,  I 
am  very  happy  to  see  you  lookino-  so  well.'  Dow's  natural 
astuteness  and  Yankee  ingenuity  came  to  his  aid,  and  he 
quickly  replied,  without  apparent  embarrassment,  'General 
Morgan,  I  congratulate  you  on  your  escape;  I  cannot  say  I 
am  glad  that  you  did  escape,  but,  since  you  did,  I  am  pleased 
to  see  you  here.'  The  conversation  then  became  general 
between  the  two,  during  the  progress  of  which  Dow  admitted 
that  his  views  of  the  South,  its  people  and  their  treatment  of 
prisoners  of  war  had  undergone  a  material  change  for  the 
better  in  the  last  few  months." 

Certainly,  if  the  treatment  of  prisoners  by  the 
South  had  been  generally  what  I  had  for  the  most 
part  thus  far  experienced,  save  as  to  my  quarters  at 
Jackson,  there  would  have  been  no  cause  for  com- 
plaint on  that  score;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  as  I 
recall  the  conversation  now,  after  a  lapse  of  many 
years,  the  apparent  condition  of  our  officers  at  Libby 
so  impressed  General  Morgan  that  he  said  he  was 
surprised  and  sorry  at  the  poor  accommodations 
afforded  them,  and  that  he  would  make  represen- 
tations which  he  hoped  would  cause  our  condition 
to  be  improved. 

Shortly  after  my  return  to  Richmond,  a  Con- 
federate officer  of  that  city,  well  acquainted  with 
my  relatives  there,  called  upon  me  and  kindly  offered 
to  loan  me  any  money  that  I  might  need,  which  could 
be  repaid  by  my  family  in  Portland  to  his  in  Balti- 
more, so  that  I  was  immediately  placed  where  I  was 
not  likely  to  be  embarrassed  for  want  of  whatever  was 
necessary.  Later,  a  fellow-prisoner  supplied  me  with 
such  funds  as  I  needed,  with  the  understanding  that 
when  exchanged  I  was  to  reimburse  his  brother  in 


718  KEMINISCENCES 

New  York,  whose  address  lie  gave  me.  On  my  way 
home  after  my  exchange,  I  made  it  my  first  duty  to 
call  on  his  brother,  who  was  principal,  I  think,  of  a 
large  school,  and  repay  him.  He  said  that  I  was  the 
first  of  those  to  whom  the  accommodation  had  been 
given  to  discharge  the  indebtedness. 

From  the  moment  of  my  first  entrance  to  Libby, 
I  resigned  myself  entirely  to  my  situation  as  a 
prisoner,  keeping  myself  always  cheerful,  hopeful 
and  buoyant,  not  only  as  a  matter  of  duty  to  my 
country,  and  as  important  to  health,  but  as  an 
example  to  my  comrades  in  misfortune.  So  much, 
at  least,  was  due  to  them  from  one  who  was  the 
senior  of  all  in  age  as  well  as  in  rank. 

From  my  boyhood,  as  I  have  already  stated,  I  had 
found  valued  friends  in  books,  and  now  these  were 
my  chief  resource.  When  some  southern  gentlemen 
called  upon  me  to  learn  how  they  could  reciprocate 
the  kindnesses  they  said  I  had  shown  to  them  when 
they  had  been  my  prisoners,  and  asked  me  what  I 
needed  most,  I  expressed  a  desire  for  reading  matter. 
Their  response  was  generous.  In  the  books  they 
furnished  companionship  was  found  which  relieved 
my  lonely  confinement,  and  comfort  such  as  nothing 
else  could  supply. 

My  location  in  Libby  was  nearly  at  one  end  of 
the  three  great  rooms  where  we  were  confined,  and 
I  prized  it  for  the  comparative  quiet  there  to  be 
enjoyed.  I  have  seen,  in  the  reconstructed  Libby 
at  Chicago,  the  plate  bearing  my  name  marking 
the  spot.  Here  most  of  my  waking  hours  not  needed 
for  exercise  were  passed  with  my  books  and  pen. 
Had  any  of  my  captors  who  were  disposed  to  annoy 
me    been    aware    of    how    much    that    employment 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  719 

relieved  the  liardships  of  imprisonment,  they  might, 
by  depriving  me  of  them,  have  caused  me  more 
suffering  than  I  experienced  for  lack  of  suitable 
food  and  accommodations.  My  age  and  rank,  out 
of  respect  for  which  my  brother  officers  relieved 
me  of  my  share,  saved  me  from  the  drudgery  of  a 
turn  at  cooking  or  at  keeping  our  quarters  clean. 

Not  a  few  among  our  imprisoned  officers  obtained 
much  amusement  by  taking  pains  to  annoy  their 
guards.  The  news  of  every  Federal  success  was  made 
the  occasion  for  the  most  jubilant  cheering,  shouting 
and  singing,  which  were  kept  up  in  spite  of  those  in 
charge  of  the  prison.  Often  at  night  the  singing  was 
participated  in  by  large  numbers  of  the  men,  so  that 
patriotic  songs  would  resound  for  blocks  around. 
Then  the  tramp  of  the  guards  could  be  heard  as  they 
came  up  to  order  quiet.  When  the  door  opened 
to  admit  them  all  was  still  save  the  simulated  snoring 
of  the  four  or  five  hundred  men  who  a  moment  before 
had  been  singing,  more  intent  on  noise  than  liarmony. 
The  officer  in  command  of  the  guard  would  relieve 
himself  of  a  threat  of  dire  vengeance  if  there  should 
be  any  more  singing,  and  retire,  only  to  be  overtaken 
in  his  retreat  by  a  noise  more  noisy,  and,  if  possible, 
less  harmonious  than  before. 

The  prisoners  endeavored  to  hasten  the  lagging 
hours  in  a  great  variety  of  ways.  Some  were  con- 
stantly despondent,  and  seemed  to  have  little  else  to 
do  than  to  gaze  through  the  giassless  prison  windows 
as  though  they  might  thus  obtain  sometliing  of 
cheer  from  the  light,  air  and  freedom  without.  But 
there  were  classes  in  French  and  German,  debating 
societies  and  mock  courts,  while  some  studied  tactics. 
Once  there  was  a  serious  court-martial  proceeding  to 


720  KEMINISCENCES 

see  what  could  be  proven  against  a  suspected  spy  in 
our  midst,  and  there  were  not  a  few  who  were  deter- 
mined, if  tangible  evidence  could  be  secured  against 
him,  to  hang  the  fellow  for  his  treachery.  As  they 
could  only  show  that  their  keepers  became  informed 
of  all  that  took  place  of  which  the  suspect  had  knowl- 
edge, and  that  he  was  a  special  pet  of  theirs,  receiving 
favors  bestowed  upon  no  other  prisoner,  discretion 
asserted  itself,  and  the  spy,  as  most  of  us  believed 
him,  escaped  the  punishment  many  thought  he 
deserved. 

We  had  frequent  visitors  who  came  from  curiosity, 
and  to  many  of  these  I  was  pointed  out  as  a  special 
object  of  interest.  To  all  this  I  paid  no  attention,  but 
it  not  infrequently  happened  that  I  had  conversation 
with  those  who  spoke  to  me  because  of  their  interest 
in  the  cause  with  which  my  name  had  been  connected, 
and  with  some  of  them  I  held  pleasant  interviews. 

We  were  allowed  to  look  out  of  the  windows,  in 
most  of  which  there  was  no  glass,  but  not  to  lean  or 
reach  out  on  pain  of  death,  the  order  to  the  sentinels 
being  to  fire  upon  all  who  should  ignore  this  rule. 
There  were  one  or  two  wounds  from  this  cause,  but 
the  danger  depended  altogether  upon  the  disposition 
of  the  particular  sentinel  who  happened  to  notice  an 
infraction  of  the  rule.  Ordinarily,  a  word  of  warning 
would  be  all.  Sometimes  this  would  be  accompanied 
by  a  pointed  musket. 

On  one  occasion  I  was  looking  out  of  my  window  to 
see  a  party  of  Union  prisoners  on  their  way  to  Belle 
Isle.  One  poor  fellow  was  hobbling  along  barefooted. 
Slipping  off  my  own  shoes  and  stockings  I  threw  them 
to  my  comrade  who  needed  them  more  than  I,  and 
who  could    not  as    easily  obtain    others.      Another 


OF   XEAL    DOW.  721 

soldier  started  for  them  as  tliey  fell,  and  I  reached 
to  point  out,  as  well  as  to  shout,  for  whom  they 
were  intended,  exposing  myself  without  thought,  an 
easy  mark  for  the  sentinel,  who  grimly  watched  me 
and  shook  his  head,  but  without  offering  to  harm  me. 
In  addition  to  open  letters  to  my  family,  which 
were  subjected  to  the  espionage  of  the  officers  in 
charge  at  the  prison,  I  had  frequent  opportunities 
for  surreptitious  communication  with  the  outside 
world.  Chaplains  and  surgeons  of  our  army  were 
generally  released  soon  after  being  brought  to  Libby, 
and  many  of  these,  when  they  went,  carried'  letters 
written  on  thin  paper  and  concealed  in  the  military 
buttons  of  their  clothes.  In  this  way,  I  communi- 
cated to  our  authorities  at  Washington  and  to  my 
family  details,  which,  if  written  in  letters  to  be 
inspected,  would  never  have  reached  their  destina- 
tion. Some  of  those  letters  are  now  before  me, 
bearing  evidence  of  the  compactness  with  which 
they  were  folded.  From  one  bearing  date  of  Novem- 
ber 12,  1863,  I  make  the  following  extract: 

"  I  send  you  a  price  current  to-day  by  which  you  will  see 
the  enormous  prices,  due  partly  to  scarcity  and  partly  to 
extreme  depreciation  of  rebel  money.  The  'confeds'  cannot 
feed  the  prisoners  except  just  so  far  as  to  keep  them  alive. 
The  ration  for  officers  is  a  piece  of  corn-cake  (unsifted  meal) 
six  by  four  and  one-half  inches,  and  one  inch  thick,  and  one 
small  sweet  potato  and  water.  That  is  everything  for  a  day. 
But  the  officers  spend  daily  over  one  thousand  dollars  Con- 
federate money.  Potatoes  cost  fifty  dollars  a  bushel,  sugar 
five  dollars  a  pound,  candles,  tallow,  one  dollar  each.  We 
have  no  meat  of  any  kind.  We  did  have  a  little  until  two  or 
three  days  ago,  now  it  cannot  be  had.  I  think  the  farmers 
will  not  exchange  their  cattle  for  Confederate  money. 

"The  Confederacy  is  nearing  its  last  gasp.  Without 
money  it  cannot  go  on,  and  its  currency  is  now  almost  woi*tli- 
less.     When  I  first  came  here  we  received  for  greenbacks  two 


722  REMINISCENCES 

for  one,  now  the  authorities  give  seven  for  one.  In  the 
streets  I  suppose  the  rate  is  ten  for  one.  At  Moliile  a  sol- 
dier told  me  he  went  to  buy  a  cotton  shirt.  The  price  was 
twenty-two  dollars  in  Confederate  money,  a  pair  of  six 
dollar  boots  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars,  shoes  thirty 
to  fifty  dollars." 

We  had  also  a  way  of  communicating  by  reversing 
our  letters  after  filling  them  with  writing  in  ink  in 
the  ordinary  way,  and  then  writing  with  lemon  juice, 
invisible  to  ordinary  inspection,  but  which  upon 
being  exposed  to  heat  became  perfectly  legible.  My 
first  letter  prepared  in  that  w^ay  was  dated  November 
29,  1863,  and  is  before  me  as  I  wa-ite.  It  was  experi- 
mental only.  I  had,  prior  to  this,  sent  word  to  my 
family  by  a  surgeon  who  was  released  to  "heat 
my  letters  in  the  future.''  In  this  I  wrote,  "I  have 
nothing  special  to  say  here,  but  wish  you  to  write  if 
you  notice  what  is  on  the  second  page.  Say  simply, 
'  I  notice  what  you  say.' '' 

We  kept  this  up  for  some  time,  but,  finally,  one 
prisoner  who  was  let  into  the  secret  wrote  in  the 
ordinary  way  to  his  wife,  "After  you  have  read  this 
hold  it  to  the  fire  and  heat  it,  and  you  will  find  some- 
thing of  interest."  The  inspecting  ofiicer  at  Libby, 
upon  reading  this  advice,  follow^ed  it,  and  thereafter 
our  letters  were  "heated  "  as  w^ell  as  read  before  they 
were  sent  on  their  way  to  anxious  friends  at  home. 
On  the  back  of  one  of  my  letters,  under  date  of 
December  8,  1863,  I  find  written  in  the  "invisible 
ink,"  the  following: 

"  I  am  consoled  in  my  captivity  by  the  indications,  sure,  as 
I  regard  them,  of  a  speedy  end  of  the  rel)ellion.  Gold  is  now 
for  Confederate  currency  more  than  twenty-six  for  one,  how 
much  more  I  do  not  know,  as  the  papers  no  longer  publish 
the  facts.  The  Confederate  finances  are  hopelessly  ruined, 
there  is  no  earthly  power  that  can  help  them,  and  this  alone 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  723 

will  and  must  bring  their  government  down  about  the  ears  of 
those  who  built  it.  I  think  the  leaders  see  this,  and  are 
expecting  the  crash  very  soon.  As  nearly  as  I  can  learn,  our 
money  here  is  about  one  to  twenty  or  twentj'^-two." 

By  means  of  this  secret  method  of  writing,  I  was 
in  constant  correspondence  with  the  authorities  at 
Washington  and  with  the  Sanitary  Commission,  as 
w^ell  as  my  own  family  and  friends,  until  the  secret 
was  disclosed  as  related. 

After  our  government  became  aware  of  the  gen- 
erally forlorn  condition  of  our  poor  fellows  at  Belle 
Isle,  it  shipped  a  large  consignment  of  clothing, 
blankets,  etc.,  to  my  care,  for  distribution  among 
them.  I  was  paroled  by  the  prison  authorities  to 
take  charge  of  the  distribution.  Upon  my  arrival 
there  the  Union  prisoners,  in  every  stage  of  desti- 
tution and  misery,  flocked  around  me,  making  their 
wants  audible  by  their  weak  voices,  though  their 
appearance  disclosed  their  needs.  I  could  not  fail 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  horrors  of  their  con- 
dition, to  which  all  the  privations  we  had  encountered 
at  Libby  were  as  joys  of  Elysium. 

A  part  of  the  prisoners  possessed  mildewed,  ragged 
tents,  through  which  the  wind  and  rain  passed  freely, 
but  the  larger  portion  had  no  shelter  whatever, 
though  the  weather  was  exceptionally  cold.  They 
dug  holes  in  the  ground,  like  shallow  graves,  by 
which  they  could  escape  a  portion  of  the  winds, 
but  none  of  the  snow  or  rain.  Their  clothing  was 
in  a  miserable  condition  of  shabbiness  and  ragged- 
ness.  In  the  presence  of  all  this  wretchedness  I 
restrained  myself  as  best  I  could.  One  poor  fellow, 
more  unfortunate  than  the  rest,  wearing  no  trousers, 
pressed  closer  than  the  others  to  show  me  how  much 


724  KEMINISCENCES 

he  needed  clothes;  a  Confederate  guard  hinged  at  him 
with  a  bayonet,  but  the  vicious  stab  was  arrested,  and 
a  grievous  wound,  if  not  death,  prevented  by  a  sharp 
word  of  remonstrance  from  me. 

In  my  report  to  Washington  I  acquainted  our  gov- 
ernment with  something  of  the  misery  which  had 
been  forced  upon  my  attention.  Some  time  after 
I  wrote  the  following  letter: 

"  LiBBY  Prison,  Nov.  8,  1863. 

General :  —  My  government  has  sent  to  me  a  second  con- 
sig-nment  of  blankets  and  clothing  for  distribution  among 
United  States  prisoners  here.  I  have  to  request  to  be  per- 
mitted to  attend  to  the  matter  soon,  and  wish  very  much  that 
a  few  officers  may  l)e  permitted,  on  their  parole,  to  assist  me. 
For  want  of  such  help  the  task  was  a  heavy  one  on  me,  and  I 
have  reason  to  l)elieve  that  many  articles  were  unaccounted 
for.  The  condition  of  the  prisoners  at  Belle  Isle  is  very 
wretched,  many  of  them  being  without  shelter,  and  all  w^ith 
insufficient  food.  I  beg  that  you  will  cause  their  situation 
to  be  improved. 

Eespectfully, 

Neal  Dow,  Brig.   Gen.    U.  8.  A. 
Brigadier  General  Winder,  Commanding. 

I  would  like  to  be  assisted  by  Captain  Comee,  Captain 
Atwood,  Lieutenant  Jones,  Lieutenant  Knaggs,  Lieutenant 
Dixon,  Lieutenant  Davis." 

This  was  returned,  with  the  following  endorsement: 

"  Office  C.  S.  M.  Prison,  > 
EiciiMOND,  Va.,  Nov,  9.  ^ 
Respectfully  forwarded  to  headquarters  with  the  remark 
that  General  Dow  was  allowed  to  go  to  Belle  Isle  for  a 
specific  purpose,  to  distribute  clothing  and  not  to  examine 
into  commissariat  arrangements  or  to  hold  comuuinication 
with  the  prisoners  further  than  this  specific  business  required. 
Having  meddled  with  matters  with  which  he  has  no  business, 
and  violated  a  privilege  gratuitously  extended  to  him,  and  in 
addition  made  his  visit  to  Belle  Isle  the  means  of  making  a 
report  which  is  i)()th  conten]i)tible  and  false,  I  most  respect- 
fully recommend  that  he  be  prohibited  from  again  visiting  the 
island,  and  I  further  respectfully  recommend  that  a  board  of 


OF    XEAT.    DOAV.  725 

three  officers  (Yankees)  1)e  appointed  to  distribute  the  cloth- 
ing, etc.  W.  P.  Turner, 

Captain   Comtnan ding . 

General  Dow  was  permitted  to  pass  to  Belle  Isle  to  dis- 
tribute clothing  upon  the  express  condition  that  he  should  do 
nothing  else.  Having  violated  the  privilege,  he  will  not  be 
permitted  to  go  again,  and  Captain  Turner  will  select  three 
discreet  officers  for  that  purpose. 

John  H.  Winder, 

Nov.  9,  1863.  Brigadier  General.'''' 

I  liad  in  no  way  violated  my  parole  under  which 
I  was  permitted  to  go  to  Belle  Isle,  nor  had  I  made 
any  investigation  into  the  condition  of  the  prisoners 
there  other  than  by  refusing  to  close  my  eyes  and  ears 
to  what  I  could  not  otherwise  fail  to  see  and  hear. 
My  only  interference  was  my  remonstrance  with  a 
sentry  for  apparently  attempting  to  bayonet  a  poor 
Union  soldier  who,  half  crazed  in  the  hope  of  securing 
through  me  some  amelioration  of  his  suffering,  had 
overstepped  the  prescribed  bounds. 

Nor  was  the  report  that  I  had  made  on  the  condi- 
tion of  our  imprisoned  soldiers  "false,"  save  that  it 
necessarily  failed  in  giving  the  whole  truth,  as  to 
which,  indeed,  it  might  be  said  that  its  language  was 
' '  contemptible  "  because  inadequate  for  the  purpose. 
That  Union  soldiers,  confined  in  southern  prisons, 
suffered  needless  misery  is  now  a  matter  of  history. 
Much  was  inevitable  as  inseparable  from  captivity, 
but  civilization  blushes  as  the  horrors  of  Anderson- 
ville.  Belle  Isle  and  other  prison  pens  are  recalled. 

My  intercourse  with  the  masses  of  the  southern  peo- 
ple convinced  me  that  they  did  not  desire  that  Union 
prisoners  should  be  subjected  to  any  such  treatment. 
But  the  essence  of  the  great  wrong  of  slavery  was  too 
often  concentrated  in  the  hearts  and  heads  of  some  of 

47 


726  REMINISCENCES 

the  men  who  had  immediate  charge  of  the  prisoners  of 
war.  Such  positions  were  perilous  at  best  to  all  the 
kindlier  phases  of  human  nature.  Only  men  most 
strongly  fortified  in  disposition  and  determination  to 
do  what  was  right  could  resist  the  tendency  to  use  the 
great  power  in  their  hands  for  evil,  or  at  least  to 
neglect  to  use  it  to  prevent  the  suffering  sure  to  fol- 
low from  their  inattention. 

My  confinement  at  Libby  covered  the  time  of  the 
great  escape,  which  has  passed  into  history  as  the 
most  famous  of  all  jail  deliveries.  Only  a  select  few 
knew  that  preparations  for  this  were  going  on.  The 
greatest  caution  was  exercised  because  the  officers 
were  satisfied  that  there  was  a  spy  in  their  midst  who 
communicated  much  of  what  took  place  to  the  officers 
in  charge  of  the  prison.  Some  of  us  had  located  this 
fellow,  to  our  own  satisfaction,  through  our  strong- 
suspicions,  but  it  was  not  known  who,  or  how  many 
among  us  yet  had  confidence  in  him,  or,  at  least, 
might  be  indiscreet  enough  to  let  him  know  in  some 
way  of  the  project. 

When  the  tunnel  was  ready  for  an  exit  word  was 
passed  around  among  those  who  could  be  trusted  and 
whose  health  and  strength  might  be  equal  to  the 
ordeal  of  flight.  Only  the  vigorous  could  hope  to 
succeed,  and  I  did  not  make  the  attempt.  By  that 
time  my  naturally  strong  constitution  had  been 
broken  down,  and  but  the  shattered  wreck  of  my 
former  strength  remained. 

It  is  wonderful  that  such  an  exodus  could  have 
taken  place,  yet  perhaps  even  more  might  have 
escaped  but  for  the  fact  that  knowledge  of  the  plan 
had  reached  a  greater  number  than  was  intended, 
and  when  the  night  came  for  the  trial  the  prison 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  727 

seemed  alive  with  tlie  stir  of  preparation,  so  many 
were  making  ready  to  leave.  Those  in  charge  of  the 
undertaking  had  given  their  followers  numbers  that 
each  might  know  his  turn,  but  many  more  thronged 
about  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel,  blocking  the  way. 
Thus  there  was  much  delay,  as  only  one  at  a  time 
could  pass  through,  and  some  who  had  been  selected 
to  go  could  not  even  reach  the  prison  end  of  the  tun- 
nel. One  officer,  I  think  it  was  Colonel  Straight,  was 
too  large  to  easily  pass  one  obstruction  in  the  tunnel, 
and  got  wedged  in  so  that  quite  an  effort  was  neces- 
sary to  get  him  out  of  his  predicament. 

All  the  world  knows  of  that  desperate  and  wonder- 
fully successful  undertaking.  I  do  not  remember 
how  many  finally  escaped.  Not  a  few  were  recaptured 
and  brought  back,  but  it  was  a  marvel  that  so  many 
succeeded.  Some  received  assistance  from  friends 
and  Union  sympathizers  in  Richmond,  and  it  was  said 
that  one  officer  found  shelter  for  a  time  in  a  house, 
with  friends,  in  full  view  of  Libby. 

Every  morning  it  was  customary  to  crowd  all  the 
prisoners  together  into  ,one  room,  where  we  were 
packed  like  sardines,  and  then  to  have  us  pass  out 
one  by  one,  our  guards  keeping  tally  as  we  went. 
This  was  called  the  "roll-call."  As  the  ranking- 
officer,  I  usually  went  out  first  and  then  to  my 
' '  quarters. "  At  the  morning  roll-call  after  the 
escape,  I  stepped  out  first,  as  usual,  but  stood  close 
by  the  officer  as  he  kept  his  tally.  I  saw  by  his  face, 
when  he  counted  up  his  marks,  that  he  had  noticed  a 
discrepancy,  but  he  said  nothing  except  to  order  us 
all  back  again  to  be  checked  out  once  more.  He 
thought  he  had  made  a  mistake. 

Again  I  took  my  place  by  his  side  as  I  stepped 


728  REMINISCENCES 

out  to  see  what  would  come  of  liis  second  count. 
This  time  he  was  more  careful,  but  still  it  was  iiot 
right.  In  various  ways  the  men  tried  to  confuse  him. 
They  would  dodge  in  and  out,  get  counted  twice, 
put  hats  and  caps  on  sticks  and  try  to  get  them 
counted  for  heads.  Nearly  all  the  morning  was 
occupied  in  getting  the  count.  I  was  close  by  the 
officer  w^hen  he  finally  got  his  tally  right  and  found 
out  how  many  were  missing.  The  expression  of  blank 
astonishment  and  despair  on  his  face  was  amusing. 
He  forgot  for  the  moment  where  he  was,  and  that  we 
were  watching  him,  and,  speaking  to  himself  aloud, 
exclaimed:  "Why,  it  is  a  h-u-n-d-r-e-d  and  ten!''' 
expressing  by  tone  and  manner  that  at  first  count  he 
had  imagined  that  he  had  missed  only  ten. 

When  he  discovered  the  true  state  of  affairs  he 
turned  deathly  pale.  How  wroth  he  was  that  day! 
How  he  searched  for  the  hidden  passage,  through 
which  so  many  prisoners  had  escaped!  After  a  long 
time  it  was  found,  and  then  he  freely  admitted  that 
the  ' '  yanks "  were  smart,  and  that  they  could  do 
anything  they  undertook. 

At  Libby  I  found  several  officers  from  Maine. 
Among  them,  near  neighbors  of  mine  in  the  assign- 
ment of  space  for  sleeping,  were  Colonel  Tilden  and 
Captain  Atwood,  of  the  Sixteenth  Maine,  and  not  far 
away  was  a  naval  officer,  Mr.  William  H.  Fogg,  from 
Bath,  Me.  One  of  my  fellovz-prisoners  was  Colonel 
Cesnola,  of  New  York,  an  officer  whom  I  learned  to 
respect  very  highly,  and  with  whom,  perhaps,  I 
became  as  well  acquainted  as  with  any  of  my  asso- 
ciates in  misfortune.  After  my  exchange,  while  in 
New  York,  I  called,  at  his  request,  on  Mrs.  Cesnola, 
to  deliver  a  message  for  him.      The  wife  of  a  brave 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  729 

and  honored  officer  in  the  army,  she  was  the  daughter 
of  a  man  who  had  highly  distinguished  himself  in 
the  war  of  1812  in  a  most  brilliant  naval  engagement. 
All  Americans  familiar  with  the  naval  history  of 
their  country  honor  her  father,  Captain  Reid,  of  the 
famous  privateer  Armstrong. 

Not  long  after  my  return  from  Mobile,  by  invita- 
tion of  my  fellow-prisoners,  I  addressed  them  upon 
the  subject  of  the  war  and  the  condition  of  the  South 
as  observed  in  my  travels  to  and  fro  as  a  prisoner. 
Before  commencing  to  speak  I  arranged  for  two  or 
three  officers  to  be  on  the  watch  for  the  incoming 
of  any  of  the  Confederates  in  charge,  and  to  give 
me  a  signal  of  such  arrival.  The  applause  greeting 
some  of  my  remarks  attracted  the  attention  of 
our  guards,  and  the  signal  was  given.  Instantly 
I  changed  my  subject,  and  when  the  inquiring 
Confederate  officer  opened  the  door  he  heard  me 
enforcing  some  temperance  truths  which,  however 
valuable  they  might  have  been,  he  cared  nothing 
for,  and  he  retired  to  report  that  it  was  only  "that 
crank,  Dow,  urging  temperance  on  a  lot  of  men 
who  couldn't  get  enough  to  eat  to  keep  them  from 
starving."  I  addressed  my  fellow-prisoners,  at  their 
request,  no  less  than  five  times  during  my  confinement 
at  Libby,  and  interruptions  were  always  guarded 
against  in  that  way. 

It  was  a  matter  of  comment  among  us  that  we 
received  little,  if  any,  attention  from  the  clergymen 
of  Richmond,  a  notable  exception  being  that  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop,  I  think  the  Right  Reverend 
John  McGill.  I  remember  him  now  as  I  saw  him 
then,  when  I  wrote  of  him  in  a  letter  to  my  family, 
under  date  of  October  23,  1863 : 


730  REMINISCENCES 

"I  have  rarely,  if  ever,  seen  a  man  whose  appearance 
impressed  me  more,  if  so  mnch.  There  is  prominent  in  his 
presence  a  charmimi:  air  of  dignity,  gentleness,  intelligence 
and  high  culture,  intellectual  and  moral,  and  every  move- 
ment is  full  of  grace  and  unaffected  ease." 

Not  long  prior  to  my  arrival  at  Libby,  all  the  cap- 
tains of  the  prison  had  been  mustered  to  draw  lots  to 
decide  which  two  among  them  should  be  executed  in 
retaliation  for  the  hanging,  by  our  authorities,  of  two 
Confederate  captains  caught  within  our  own  lines 
under  circumstances  subjecting  them,  under  military 
law,  to  the  penalty  they  suffered.  This  lot-drawing 
has  passed  into  history.  It  resulted  in  the  selection 
from  among  two  or  three  score  of  Union  captains 
in  Libby,  of  Captains  Sawyer  and  Flynn.  The  world 
knows  what  followed.  Promptly  our  authorities 
selected  General  Fitzhugh  Lee  and  a  Captain  Winder 
from  the  Confederate  officers  in  their  hands  as  host- 
ages for  the  doomed  Union  captains,  rightly  surmising 
that  the  influential  connection  of  those  two  officers  in 
the  Confederacy  would  prevent  the  threatened  execu- 
tion of  the  Union  captains  who  had  drawn  their 
death  warrants  in  the  dreadful  lottery  in  which  they 
had  been  compelled  to  take  tickets. 

This  action  on  the  part  of  our  government  plunged 
the  Confederate  authorities  into  a  dilemma.  The 
influential  leaders,  around  the  necks  of  whose  relatives 
this  conditional  halter  had  been  placed,  demanded 
that  proceedings  should  be  suspended  in  the  blood- 
curdling drama  about  to  be  opened  with  the  death  of 
Sawyer  and  Flynn.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  Confederacy,  crazed  with  hate  for 
northern  men  and  northern  sentiment,  were  demand- 
ing their  death,  and  the  selection  of  other  hostages  for 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  731 

Lee  and  Winder,  at  whatever  risk  of  the  inauguration 
of  an  era  of  terrible  retaliation  the  end  of  which  no 
one  could  foretell. 

Soon  after  reaching  Libhy  I  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Captains  Sawyer  and  Flynn.  They  had  been  con- 
signed to  a  dungeon  immediately  after  their  fatal 
drawing,  but  had  then  been  released.  When  I  met' 
them  they  were  naturally  very  much  depressed  by 
what  they  believed  to  be  their  impending  fate,  but, 
with  others,  I  did  everything  possible  to  rekindle 
their  hope,  assuring  them  that  the  Confederates 
would  not  dare  to  carry  out  their  threat.  This 
situation  continued  for  a  long  time,  during  which 
all  exchanges,  save  in  one  or  two  very  exceptional 
cases,  were  suspended.  In  the  meantime,  through 
my  friends  in  the  North,  notably  Vice-President 
Hamlin  and  Senators  Fessenden  and  Morrill,  and 
the  friends  of  General  Fitzhugh  Lee  in  the  South, 
an  effort  was  being  made  to  put  an  end  to  this  by  our 
exchange,  and  that  of  Captains  Sawyer  and  Flynn  for 
two  rebel  officers  of  equal  rank,  prisoners  within  the 
Union  lines. 

Finally  I  was  told  by  a  Confederate  officer  that 
General  Ould,  the  Confederate  official  in  charge  of 
exchanges,  had  authorized  him  to  tell  me  that  if  the 
United  States  government  would  make  the  proposi- 
tion the  Confederate  authorities  would  accede  to  it, 
but  that  the  latter  would  not  take  the  initiative.  It 
was  also  intimated  to  me  that  I  might  write  freely 
upon  the  subject  of  the  proposed  exchange,  and  that 
such  letters  as  I  thought  would  aid  in  'bringing  it 
about  would  pass  the  examination  and  be  forwarded. 
Accordingly,  under  date  of  January  28,  1864,  I  wrote 
to  my  son,  as  follows : 


732  KEMINISCENCES 

"  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  if  the  government  will  pro- 
pose to  exchange  General  Lee  for  myself,  the  only  Federal 
general  here,  and  equivalent  officers  for  Captains  Sawyer  and 
Flynn,  who  were  selected  by  lot  for  execution  in  retaliation 
for  the  execution  by  Burnside  of  two  officers  alleged  to  be 
recruiting  within  his  lines  in  Kentucky,  for  the  Confederate 
service,  the  proposition  will  be  favorably  entertained  and  the 
exchange  effected.  General  Lee  was  captured  at  a  private 
house,  sick,  as  I  was  at  a  private  house,  wounded. 

"  If  our  friend  C.  A.  S.*  will  kindly  consent,  the  best  thing 
will  be  for  him  to  go  immediately  to  Washington  and  see  my 
friends  there.  There  should  be  no  delay  about  it.  I  have 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  government  will  consent  to  the 
measure,  since  no  question  of  public  policy  is  involved  in  it. 
Several  special  exchanges  have  already  been  effected." 

So  mucli  for  the  inspection  of  the  officer  who  was  to 
read  my  letter.  On  the  back  of  it,  in  lemon  juice,  I 
wrote: 

' '  The  information  comes  to  me  through  the  commissioner. 
Judge  Ould.  The  Confederate  government  will  not  propose 
the  exchange,  as  they  refuse  to  exchange  generally  man  for 
man  and  rank  for  rank.  They  will  exchange  me  for  General 
Lee,  without  regard  to  Sawyer  and  Flynn,  but  not  them, 
leaving  on  our  hands  General  Lee.  Our  government  may 
possibly  think  it  desirable  to  hold  Lee.  If  so,  I  am  con- 
tent to  remain.  Our  government  must  not  yield  a  hair's 
breadth  in  relation  to  the  status  of  the  negro  in  our  armies 
and  its  duty  to  protect  him  in  every  respect  as  if  he  were 
the  most  honored  white.  To  recede  would  be  to  forfeit 
honor  and  merit  defeat.  We  should  be  utterly  disgraced 
before  the  world." 

The  above,  though  at  the  time  invisible,  now  stands 
out  in  the  apparently  indelible  brown  developed  by 
the  heat  applied  to  it  so  many  years  ago,  testifying  to 
the  spirit  which  animated  the  inmates  of  Libby  pris- 
on, and  of  their  willingness  to  remain  there,  if  need 
be  indefinitely,  if  thereby  those  charged  with  the 
responsibility  for  its  defense  should  conclude    that 

*  Charles  A.  Stackpole,  Esq.,  of  Portland. 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  733 

their  dear  country  could  better  be  served  than  by 
their  exchange. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  my  son,  with  Mr. 
Stackpole,  went  to  Washington  to  see  what  could 
be  done.  There,  with  the  assistance  of  the  vice- 
president  and  the  Maine  senators,  the  necessary  steps 
were  taken  which  shortly  led  to  my  exchange.  On 
the  24th  of  February,  1864,  I  received  two  letters, 
very  much  delayed,  one  from  Vice-President  Hamlin, 
and  one  from  Senator  Lot  M.  Morrill,  of  Maine, 
informing  me  that  the  United  States  government  had 
proposed  to  exchange  General  Lee  for  me.  The 
exchange  was  effected  on  the  14th  of  March,  after 
I  had  been  eight  months  and  fourteen  days  in  cap- 
tivity. 

Captains  Sawyer  and  Flynn  were  exchanged  the 
same  day.  General  Lee  was  the  most  influentially 
connected  of  any  Confederate  officer  then  in  the 
hands  of  the  North,  while  I  was  the  only  northern 
officer  of  equal  rank  held  by  the  South.  His  friends 
on  the  one  side,  and  mine  on  the  other,  had  been 
most  active  in  bringing  about  the  proposition  for 
the  exchange,  which  was  to  result  not  only  in  pre- 
venting the  initiation  of  a  frightful  Sawyer-Flynn 
vendetta,  but  to  open  a  general  exchange  of  prison- 
ers, never  again  to  be  closed,  I  believe,  while  the  war 
continued. 

On  the  15th  of  March,  I  went  on  board  the  steamer 
New  York,  on  the  James  river,  bound  for  Fortress 
Monroe,  where,  upon  landing.  General  Butler  heartily 
welcomed  me,  and  told  me  that  he  had  just  tele- 
graphed Mrs.  Dow  that  I  had  been  exchanged.  From 
there  I  went  to  Annapolis,  where  I  met  the  Misses 
Titcomb,   Pearson  and    Quimby,   volunteer    hospital 


734  KEMINISCENCES 

nurses  from  Portland,  and  by  their  invitation  took 
tea  witli  them  at  Mrs.  Tyler's  quarters.  I  waited  in 
Annapolis  until  I  received  orders  to  report  at  Wash- 
ington. 

At  Washington  I  dined  with  Vice-President  Hamlin 
and  Senator  Morrill,  who,  with  Senator  Fessenden, 
had  received  me  very  kindly  and  warmly.  I  have 
elsewhere  alluded  to  my  reception  upon  the  floor  of 
Congress  and  to  what  I  had  to  say  of  the  condition 
of  the  South  and  of  the  wish  of  the  Confederates  that 
the  Republican  party  would  fail  to  renominate  Lin- 
coln. 

Obtaining  leave  of  absence  for  thirty  days,  on  the 
19th  of  March  I  started  for  home,  from  which  I 
had  turned  my  face  more  than  two  years  before. 
Reaching  Portland  at  noon,  March  23d,  1864,  I  was 
met  at  the  depot  by  the  mayor  and  city  govern- 
ment, who  accompanied  me  to  my  residence,  escorted 
by  five  companies  of  infantry  under  command  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Charles  B.  Merrill,  and  followed 
by  a  large  concourse  of  citizens.  The  public  build- 
ings and  hundreds  of  dwelling-houses  and  stores  were 
gaily  decorated. 

On  the  next  evening  I  was  tendered  a  formal 
welcome  in  the  City  Hall,  of  which  I  venture  to 
insert  an  account  published  the  next  morning  in  a 
Portland  paper. 

"  General  Dow,  attended  by  the  mayor  and  meml^ers  of  the 
city  government,  took  seats  upon  the  platform  at  7.30  o'clock, 
the  house  being  literally  packed,  as  were  all  the  side  rooms,, 
passage-ways  and  approaches  to  the  hall.  Even  the  platform 
was  soon  so  crowded  with  those  anxious  to  get  sight  of  and 
listen  to  the  words  of  their  honored  fellow-townsman,  that 
there  was  scarcely  room  left  for  the  speakers  and  reporters. 
After   the  cheering  with  which  the  General  was  greeted  on 


OF   NEAL   DOW.  735 

entering  the  hall  had  subsided,  and  music  from  Camp  Berry- 
Band,  Mayor  McLellan  called  the  meeting  to  order  and  intro- 
duced liev.  Horatio  Stebbins,  who  spoke  as  follows  : 

'  I  esteem  myself  happy,  Mr.  Mayor  and  fellow-citizens,  in 
being  permitted  to  join  in  these  demonstrations  of  joy  on  the 
return  of  our  distinguished  fellow-citizen  from  the  war.  We 
have  come  to  welcome  him,  and  to  pay  him  our  homage. 
We  have  come  to  assure  him  that  we  are  not  unmindful  of  his 
spirit,  his  toils,  or  his  trials.  We  have  come  that  we  might 
lift  him  high  aloft,  upon  the  hands  of  all  the  people,  into  the 
air  and  light  of  patriotic  love. 

'  General :  If  that  man  is  to  be  esteemed  most  happy 
whose  conduct  finds  noble  response  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow- 
men,  who  is  honored  above  claims  of  the  partisan  in  open 
realms  of  his  country's  glory,  for  deeds,  for  toils,  for  suffer- 
ings, done  and  borne  for  her  cause,  you  may  be  esteemed  the 
f[ivorite  of  heaven.  It  is  worth  living  for.  General,  to  feel 
the  fevered  brow  of  life  refreshed  by  the  wind  of  a  universal, 
all-pervading  sentiment.  Eise,  and  receive  the  people's  bene- 
diction. Read  your  recompense  in  their  eyes,  forget  your 
pains  and  be  satisfied.' 

"General  Dow,  on  rising  to  respond,  was  again  greeted 
with  prolonged  and  enthusiastic  cheers." 

My  speech  occupied  about  five  columns  of  the  paper, 
closing  with  the  following  paragraph: 

"When  this  war  shall  l)e  ended,  and  lil)erty  shall  be  pro- 
claimed through  the  land  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and 
our  government  shall  be  established  in  the  love  and  fear  of 
God  forever,  the  survivors  of  it  will  see  that  the  value  to  the 
nation  and  to  mankind  will  be  far  beyond  its  cost,  and  those 
who  now  mourn  the  death  of  father,  brother,  son,  slain  in 
battle,  or  starved  in  prison,  will  be  comforted  by  the  thought 
that  their  dear  ones  perished  in  the  cause  of  civilization, 
humanity  and  Christianity,  and  that  by  their  death  Justice 
and  Truth  are  established  on  an  everlasting  throne." 

Of  this  meeting  the  same  paper  said  editorially : 

"  In  the  annals  of  Portland  there  has  never  been  such  a 
gathering  of  people  on  any  occasion,  as  there  was  last  evening 
at  the  City  Hall  to  welcome  General  Dow.  The  doors  of* the 
hall  were  thrown  open  at  six  o'clock,  and,  although  proceed- 


736  REMINISCENCES 

ings  were  not  to  commence  before  half-past  seven,  in  half  an 
hour  the  spacious  hall,  anterooms  and  passage-ways  were 
solidly  packed  with  human  beings,  and  for  an  hour  or  more 
crowds  were  wending  their  way  to  the  hall,  only  to  find  when 
they  arrived  there  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  obtain 
an  entrance.  So  great  was  the  crowd  that  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty that  the  police  forced  a  passage-way  for  the  entrance  of 
the  city  authorities  with  General  Dow. 

"As  the  General  proceeded  from  the  mayor's  room, 
upstairs,  he  was  greeted  with  cheers  by  the  crowd,  which 
was  unable  to  obtain  entrance  into  the  hall.  As  he  entered 
the  hall,  the  Camp  Berry  Band  struck  up  '  Hail  to  the  Chief,' 
and  a  storm  of  applause  came  from  the  audience  —  the  men 
cheering  and  a  cloud  of  handkerchiefs  being  waved  by  the 
ladies,   which  lasted  for  some  time." 

Extracts  from  my  speech  were  published  far  and 
wide.  Though  overwhehned  with  invitations  to 
speak  from  all  parts  of  the  North,  I  was  generally 
obliged  to  decline  such  because  very  much  run  down 
in  health  and  strength.  I  learned  that  after  sixty 
years  of  age  it  is  not  easy  for  the  strongest  consti- 
tution to  recover  from  the  effects  of  such  exposure 
and  hardships  as  for  the  past  two  years  had  fallen 
to  my  lot.  Indeed,  I  nearly  fainted  in  the  course 
of  my  reception  in  City  Hall,  and  for  some  time 
after  I  was  subject  to  vertigo,  and  after  a  few 
months  resigned  my  commission  in  the  army.  My 
health  for  months  was  so  poor  that  I  scarcely  expected 
to  survive  a  year. 

As  long  as  the  war  lasted,  however,  I  continued, 
at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  friends  of  the  North 
in  England  to  do  all  that  I  could  by  way  of  private 
and  public  correspondence  to  help  them  in  the  work 
they  w^ere  doing  there  in  behalf  of  the  Union.  This 
subject  engrossed  so  much  of  my  time  and  thought 
that  there  was  comparatively  little  left  for  specific 
work  for  temperance  and  Prohibition,  which,  to  some 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  737 

extent  was  necessarily  relegated  to  the  rear  of  the 
great  and  pressing  subject  of  the  salvation  of  the 
country,  which  had  enlisted  the  sympathy  and  sup- 
port of  all  patriotic  people.  After  the  close  of  the 
war,  also,  and  during  the  period  of  reconstruction, 
I  was  extremely  anxious  that  the  adjustment  should 
be  on  the  right  basis,  which  should  give  permanency 
to  peace  and  to  the  Union,  and  contribute  to  the  true 
glory  and  greatness  of  our  country;  and  I  interested 
myself  to  promote  that  end  as  best  I  might. 


SUPPLEMEISTTAEY. 


I. 

GENEEAL      DOW'S      NINETIETH     ANNIVERSARY.  HIS     LAST 

DAYS.         LOCAL     TRIBUTES     TO     HIS     LIFE     AND 

WORK.         THE     FUNERAL     SERVICES. 


Thougli  the  war  for  the  Union  necessarily  led  to 
the  suspension  of  his  activity  for  temperance  and 
Prohibition,  the  interest  of  General  Dow  in  those 
subjects  did  not  wane,  and  he  resumed  his  labor  in 
their  behalf  as  soon  as  it  was  practicable  to  attract 
public  attention  from  the  all-engrossing  issues  follow- 
ing upon  the  overthrow  of  the  Confederacy.  Two  of 
his  visits  to  Great  Britain  were  made  after  the  war, 
and  occupied  his  attention  substantially  for  three 
years  and  a  half.  With  the  exception  of  the  time 
thus  spent  abroad,  General  Dow  gave  himself  unre- 
servedly to  his  chosen  life-work  in  this  country  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  ninety. 

In  the  prosecution  of  his  labors,  he  traveled  east 
as  far  as  Newfoundland  and  west  to  San  Francisco, 
and  his  presence  was  a  familiar  one  upon  platforms  in 
many  cities  between  those  extremes;  and  through  his 
constant  and  voluminous  correspondence  for  the  pub- 
lic press,  his  views  upon  his  favorite  topic  and  other 


REMINISCENCES    OF  NEAL  DOW.  739 

subjects  of  general  interest  were  made  known  to  the 
English-speaking  world.  To  work  of  this  description 
he  added  that  necessary  to  keep  himself  thoroughly 
informed  upon  all  important  current  events  in  every 
part  of  the  globe.  He  knew  no  idle  moments,  and 
until  the  last  year  of  his  life,  when  he  was  compelled 
to  spare  his  eyes  in  the  evening,  he  was  constantly 
busy  with  book  or  pen,  when  not  otherwise  employed, 
while  his  varied  daily  employments  were  such  as 
would  have  exhausted  a  man  of  average  strength, 
his  junior  by  a  score  of  years. 

The  ninetieth  anniversary  of  General  Dow's  birth, 
March  20,  1894,  at  the  suggestion  of  Miss  Frances  E. 
Willard,  and  through  the  co-operation  with  her  of 
temperance  organizations  generally,  was  made  the 
occasion  for  congratulations  upon  his  distinguished 
services,  his  long  life  and  his  remarkably  pre- 
served health  and  strength.  His  home  was  thronged 
throughout  the  day  with  his  fellow-townsmen,  and 
with  those  from  distant  towns  and  other  states,  who 
called  to  pay  their  respects.  It  is  questionable  if  any 
other  citizen  in  private  life,  who  had  never  held  high 
official  position,  has  been  the  recipient  upon  such  an 
occasion  of  so  many  congratulatory  letters,  telegrams, 
and  cable  messages  as  then  poured  in  upon  General 
Dow  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Space  is  only 
found  for  extracts  from  a  few. 

Judge  Henry  Carter,  of  Haverhill,  Mass. : 

"I  have  been  personally  familiar  with,  and  now  well 
remember,  all  the  stages  of  the  temperance  reform  in  Maine 
for  sixty  years  past  —  and  I  remember  you  at  all  times  as 
emphatically  the  'leader  of  leaders'  in  the  cause,  especially 
in  the  legal  aspect  it  assumed  in  Maine  just  after  the  Wash- 

ingtonian   movement I  remember   to  have    notified 

you  what  day  to  come  to  Augusta  with  your  original  draft 


740  REMINISCENCES 

of  the  law,  and  after  your  hearing  before  the  committee  the 
feeling  was  so  strong  in  its  favor  that  the  common  expression 
was,  '  Pass  it  without  dotting  an  'i'  or  crossing  a  't',' 

"  The  law  was  passed,  and  to-day  the  state  of  Maine  is  reap- 
ing great  benetit  from  its  influence.  There  is  no  state  in  the 
Union  so  comparatively  free  from  the  drink  habit ;  there  is 
no  state  in  the  Union  so  well  able  to  endure  a  financial  crisis, 
and  there  is  no  state  in  the  Union  where  the  rum-power  has 
so  small  an  influence  in  corrupting  elections." 

Hon.  Nicholas  Fessenden,  secretary  of  state  for 
Maine: 

" In  a  broad  sense,  the  state,  the  nation,  yes,  and 

the  race,  may  properly  be  congratulated  upon  your  remark- 
able life  and  labor  in  behalf  of  an  elevated  mankind."' 

Hon.  E.  B.  Winslow,  president  of  the  Portland 
Board  of  Trade : 

"  My  congratulations  upon  your  long  and  useful  life.  I 
thank  you  for  the  deep  interest  you  have  taken  in  public 
affairs,  which,  with  the  assistance  you  have  given  many  indus- 
tries of  our  state  and  city,  must  now^  be  a  pride  and  pleasure 
to  you." 

Ex-Gov.  Frederick  Robie,  Maine: 

"  It  is  pleasant  to  contemplate  so  just  a  public  appreciation 
of  his  patriotic  and  unequaled  public  services  for  the  best 
interests  of  humanity  and  the  rights  of  man.  It  is  a  noble 
tril)ute  from  state  and  nation  to  his  personal  character,  ^vhich 
is  of  the  highest  order,  and  the  summing  up  of  a  long  life 
replete  with  noble  and  generous  deeds." 

Hon.  William  W.  Thomas,  a  friend  of  General  Dow 
from  boyhood: 

"I  congratulate  you  upon  reaching  your  ninetieth  birthday. 
I  congratulate  you  upon  being  the  father  of  the  Maine  Prohi- 
bitory Law,  for  your  many  years  of  persistent  labor  in  its 
enforcement,  for  the  many  blessings  which  have  come  not 
only  to  us  in  Maine,  but  by  its  influence  in  the  cause  of  tem- 
perance in  other  states." 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  741 

Ex-Grov.  Edwin  C.  Burleigh,  now  representing  Mr. 
Blaine's  old  district  in  Congress: 

"  It  is  gratifying  to  all  true  friends  of  temperance  to  see  so 
cordial  and  so  wide-spread  a  recognition  of  your  noble  life- 
work  for  the  suppression  of  the  liquor-traffic." 

Edward  H.  Da  vies,  a  most  highly  respected  citizen 
of  Portland: 

"  While  this  anniversary  is  hailed  by  multitudes  in  every 
zone  of  the  civilized  world  with  congratulations  that  your 
force  is  not  abated,  your  fellow-citizens  may  Well  add  their 
voices  to  the  loud  acclaim  attesting  to  your  worth,  ability, 
and  usefulness  as  a  private  citizen  and  as  their  chief  magis- 
trate." 

Ben  Tillett,  the  English  labor  leader: 

"  Neal  Dow  is  one  of  the  few  brave  men  a  century  can 
own." 

Canon  Basil  Wilberforce,  England. 

"  General  Neal  Dow  has  imprinted  on  the  human  race  the 
eternal  truth.  When  I  was  his  guest  at  Portland  I  was  deep- 
ly impressed  by  his  gentle  courtesy,  his  luminous  intellect, 
and  his  elevated  moral  sense.  The  world  is  better  that  he  has 
lived." 

Frances  E.  Willard : 

"  General  Neal  Dow  has  lived  a  life  that  requires  no 
apology.  He  has  been  always  a  man  thoroughly  loyal  to 
womanhood  and  the  home,  a  dauntless  soldier  in  the  fore- 
front of  that  great  battle  for  liberty  which  involves  the 
emancipation  of  woman  and  the  downfall  of  the  liquor-traffic." 

Hon.  Eugene  Hale,  United  States  Senator,  Maine: 

"lam  sure  that  I  represent  the  cordial  sentiment  of  the 
people  of  Maine  when  I  say  that  they  have  always  appre- 
ciated your  earnest  and  efficient  battle  for  temperance  and 
humanity,  and  that  now,  when  both  Europe  and  America  join 
in  expressions  of  respect  and  sympathy,  no  voice  is  more 
hearty  and  sincere  than  that  from  your  native  state." 

48 


742  '  KEMINISCENCES 

United  States  Senator  William  P.  Frye,  Maine: 

"The  brave  man  has  never  lost  heart,  never  grown  weary 
in  his  w^ell-doing.  Moses  saw,  l)ut  could  not  enter  the 
promised  land ;  but  he  has  both  seen  and  gathered  a  great 
harvest." 

Reverend  Joseph  Cook,  Boston,  Mass. : 

"Conscience  and  courage,  will  and  wisdom,  duly  com- 
bined, make  celestial  fire.  A  large  spark  of  that  tire  was  a 
divine  gift  to  Neal  Dow's  soul.  This  has  made  him  for 
nearly  a  century  a  purifying  force  in  American  civilization." 

Ex-Gov.  Sidney  Perliam,  Maine: 

' '  The  people  of  Maine  especially  owe  to  General  Dow 
a  debt  of  great  gratitude." 

Mary  A.  Livermore,  Massachusetts: 

"  What  an  inspiration  to  noble  living  is  furnished  by  the 
career  of  our  ninety  year  old  hero  !  How  it  should  stir  our 
young  men  to  lofty  aims." 

United  States  Senator  William  E.  Chandler,  New 

Hampshire : 

"  Few  men  can  look  back  upon  a  life  so  well  spent,  so  full 
of  good  thoughts,  good  purposes  and  good  deeds." 

United  States  Senator  Jacob  H.  Gallinger,  New 
Hampshire : 

"  New  Hampshire  followed  the  example  of  Maine  in  adopt- 
ing a  prohibitor}'  law  and  the  Granite  State  gladly  joins  with 
the  Pine  Tree  State  in  wishing  you  a  happy  anniversary." 

Henry  W.  Blair,  a  member  of  Congress,  New 
Hampshire: 

"  I  was  with  him  in  l)attle  when  he  was  wounded,  so  that  I 
feel  a  sort  of  vested  interest  in  this  grand  old  veteran  of  a 
thousand  battles  for  God  and  man." 

Lady  Henry  Somerset,  England : 

"It  is  a  happy  thing  for  us  all  that  he  has  lived  these 
ninety  noble  years." 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  743 

Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  New  York: 

"  As  the  glorious  veteran  has  been  one  of  God's  heroes  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  may  he  live  to  march  into  the  twen- 
tieth '  with  his  beaver  on.'" 

Ex-Governor  Long,  Massachusetts: 

"His  devotion  to  a  noble  cause,  his  consistent  example, 
his  courage  and  his  faith,  have  made  him  one  of  the  heroes  of 
the  century." 

Judge  AVilliam  P.  Whitehouse,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Maine: 

"  The  beneficent  influence  of  your  life  upon  the  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  the  people  of  Maine  will  be  felt  to  the  remotest 
generation." 

Rev.  Asa  Dalton,  St.  Stephen's  Episcopal  church, 
Portland,  Me.: 

"  In  it  all  Neal  Dow  has  been  the  principal  factor,  deserves 
the  chief  credit,  and  is  held  in  highest  respect  in  the  city 
where  he  has  lived  all  his  life." 

President  J.  W.  Bashford,  Ohio  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity : 

"  I  never  saw  him  discouraged  for  a  moment  during  the 
darkest  days  of  any  campaign." 

Laura  Ormiston  Chant,  England: 

*'  Maine  and  the  w^orld  owe  Neal  Dow  ffreat  gratitude." 

W.  S.  Caine,  England: 

"There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where  his  voice  has  not 
been  heard." 

Sir  Leonard  Tilley,  St.  John,  N.  B. : 

"I  have  met  him  on  the  platform  in  England,  the  United 
States  and  Canada.     He  was  always  logical  and  convincing." 

From  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson,  England: 

"On  his  coming  birthday  we  can  show  how  gratefully  we 
appreciate  his  labors  and  honor  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
justice,  progress  and  humanity." 


744        .  KEMINISCENCES 

Ex-Gov.  John  P.  St.  John,  Kansas: 

"Prohibition  will  triumph,  the  saloon  will  go  down  and 
out  forever,  our  homes  will  rejoice  and  be  glad,  and  no  one 
will  be  entitled  to  greater  credit  for  this  result  than  our  brave 
old  leader,  Neal  Dow." 

Mrs.  L.  M.  N.  Stevens,  Portland: 

"I  believe  in  some  future  day  the  grateful  children  will 
erect  to  his  precious  memory  a  monument  as  grand  as  any 
ever  dedicated  to  freedom's  cause." 

From  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  Archbishop  Ireland  wired: 
"  Warm  congratulations  on  long  years  and  faithful  work." 

The  following  was  received  from  ex-United  States 
Senator  James  W.  Bradbury,  of  Maine,  the  senior  of 
General  Dow  by  two  years: 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Dow  : 

I  send  to  you  my  congratulations  on  this  your  ninetieth 
birthday.  You  have  not  lived  in  vain.  You  have  devoted  a 
large  part  of  your  active  life  to  one  field  of  Christian  labor, 
and  have  succeeded  more  fully  than  any  other  person  in 
turning  and  fixing  the  attention  of  the  English-speaking 
people  upon  the  appalling  evils  of  intemperance  and  of  devis- 
ing their  suppression. 

While  you  would  take  away  temptations,  it  is  certainly  due 
from  those  who  hold  to  moral  suasion  to  be  as  active  and 
earnest  as  you  are  in  the  great  work  of  eradicating  the  most 
wide-spread  and  destructive  evil  that  pervades  the  com- 
munity. 

Your  senior  in  age,  but  not  in  Christian  work,  I  remain. 
Very  truly  yours, 

James  W.  Bradbury." 

A  committee  of  the  city  government,  consisting  of 
Aldermen  Thompson  and  McGowan,  and  Councilmen 
Johnston,  Snow,  and  Howell,  called,  and  its  chair- 
man, Alderman  Thompson,  in  an  appropriate  address, 
presented  to  General  Dow  a  beautifully  engrossed 
copy  of  a  resolution  which  had  been  adopted  by 
the  city  government,  as  follows: 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  745 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  two,  with  such  as  the  com- 
mon council  may  join,  be  appointed  to  call  to-morrow  upon 
our  distinguished  fellow-citizen  and  oldest  living  ex-mayor 
of  this  city.  General  Neal  Dow,  and  tender  him  the  congratu- 
lations of  the  city  government  u})on  his  long-continued 
health  and  strength,  and  upon  the  wide-spread  appreciation 
of  his  eminent  services,  manifested  in  the  o^eneral  recosfnition 
of  the  ninetieth  anniversary  of  his  birth." 

"The  joint  committee  appointed  by  the  city  government 
desires  to  extend  to  General  Neal  Dow  on  behalf  of  the  city 
of  Portland,  its  most  hearty  congratulations  upon  his  reaching 
the  ninetieth  year  of  an  eventful  and  well  spent  life,  replete 
with  good  deeds  and  achievements  for  the  cause  of  humanity. 
We  sincerely  trust  that  many  more  years  may  be  added  to 
his  life. 

Zen  AS  Thompsox, 
.    Joseph  A.  McGowan, 
Frank  C.  Johnston, 
Charles  E.  Snow, 
WiNSLOAV  E.  Howell, 

Committee." 

The  State  Board  of  Trade,  composed  of  representa- 
tives from  the  local  boards  of  the  several  cities  and 
towns  in  the  state,  being  in  session  in  Portland, 
appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  Col.  Henry  S. 
Osgood,  of  Portland,  Hon.  Lysander  Strickland,  of 
Bangor,  and  H.  B.  Babbitt,  Esq.,  of  Auburn,  to  call 
upon  General  Dow  to  present  the  following  resolu- 
tion, which  it  had  adopted. 

"Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  State  Board  of  Trade, 
in  convention  assembled,  in  the  city  of  Portland,  hereby 
tender  to  their  distinguished  fellow-citizen,  General  Neal 
Dow,  on  this,  the  ninetieth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  their 
warm  congratulations  upon  his  long  and  useful  life  and  the 
appreciation  of  his  services  manifested  by  the  wide  observance 
of  his  birthday." 

Among  other  cable  messages  the  following  was 
received  from  a  great  meeting  in  London,  England: 


746  REMINISCENCES 

"  A  mighty  throng  gathered  in  Exeter  Hall  crowns  your 
ninety  beneficent  years  with  love  and  gratitude,  for  you  can 
truly  say :  'When  the  ear  heard  me  then  it  blessed  me,  and 
when  the  eye  saw  me  it  gave  witness  to  me.  Because  I 
delivered  the  poor  that  cried  and  the  fatherless,  and  him  that 
had  none  to  help  him.  The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to 
perish  came  upon  me,  and  I  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing 
tor  joy.  I  put  on  righteousness  and  it  clothed  me,  my  judg- 
ment was  as  a  robe  and  a  diadem.  I  was  eyes  to  the  blind  and 
feet  was  I  to  the  lame.  I  was  a  father  to  the  poor,  and  the 
cause  which  I  knew  not  I  searched  out.'" 

In  the  evening  a  great  meeting  was  held  in  City 
Hall,  which  was  crowded  in  every  part.  The  mayor, 
Hon.  James  P.  Baxter,  who  presided,  said: 

"No  son  of  Portland  has  thrown  about  it  such  a  halo  of 
wholesome  light  as  the  man  whose  ninetieth  birthday  we  cele- 
brate to-night.  He  sits  here  an  example  for  the  old  and 
young,  and  may  the  memory  of  this  night  long  live  with  our 
people." 

Among  the  speakers  were  Mrs.  L.  M.  N.  Stevens, 
ex-Governor  Selden  Connor  and  Rev.  Matt  S.  Hughes 
of  the  Chestnut  Street  M.  E.  church.  Mrs.  Hannah 
J.  Bailey  presented  to  the  state  an  oil  portrait  of  Gen- 
eral Dow.  The  governor  of  Maine,  Hon.  Henry  B. 
Cleaves  responded  as  follows: 

"  In  the  presence  of  this  magnificent  audience,  here  in  the 
city  of  his  birth  and  of  his  home,  on  this  his  ninetieth  anni- 
versary, in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  state,  I  extend  to  the 
distinguished  advocate  of  a  noble  cause,  words  of  greeting. 
The  name  of  General  Dow  is  being  honored  throughout  the 
world ;  and  the  people  of  Maine  are  to-night  bestowing  their 
congratulations  and  their  honors  upon  one  of  their  own 
citizens,  who  for  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  has 
been  steadfast  to  his  convictions  of  duty.  You  are  not  only 
emphasizing  your  appreciation  of  the  high  character  of  the 
man  and  the  citizen,  but  you  are  recognizing  his  long  and 
ceaseless  efi'orts  that  have  accomplished  results  that  will  live 
as  long  as  the  frame  of  human  society  shall  endure.  You 
have  tendered  to  the  state  the  i)()rtrait  of  this  distinguished 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  747 

citizen  ;  and  in  the  name  of  a  great  and  growing  and  prosper- 
ous commonwealth,  in  the  name  of  a  great  [)eop]e,  who  arc 
loyal  to  our  state  and  to  every  cause  that  elevates  mankind 
and  strengthens  the  foundations  of  good  and  pure  govern- 
ment, the  gift  you  have  bestowed  is  accepted  ;  and  I  express 
to  you  the  thanks  of  the  commonwealth.  It  will  be  given  an 
appropriate  position  in  the  Capitol  with  the  portraits  of  other 
distinguished  men  Avho  have,  in  the  past,  honored  the  state  of 
Maine  and  her  people." 

Tliougli  still  wonderfully  preserved  in  mind  and 
body,  General  Dow  now  realized  that  his  working 
days  were  nearly  over.  He  continued  to  appear  occa- 
sionally in  public,  making  several  speeches,  in  one  or 
two  instances  traveling  many  miles  for  the  purpose, 
and  speaking  at  some  length.  To  all  suggestions  that 
he  could  spare  his  strength  and  prolong  his  life  by 
refraining  from  such  efforts,  his  uniform  reply  was 
that  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  decline  an  invitation 
to  speak  whenever  it  was  thought  he  might  be  of  ser- 
vice. His  last  address  was  made  about  a  year  before 
his  death,  when  he  had  passed  his  ninety-second  birth- 
day. Rev.  Dr.  A.  H.  Wright,  of  Portland,  afterwards 
spoke  of  that  speech  as  a  marvel  in  its  indication  of 
continued  intellectual  vigor. 

Forced  finally  into  complete  retirement  by  great 
physical  weakness,  the  last  few  weeks  of  General 
Dow's  life  were  passed  in  his  home,  his  chief  comfort 
being  derived  from,  books,  which  were  his  constant 
companions  up  to  the  last  week  of  his  life,  and  not 
omitting  daily  reading  from  the  Scriptures,  his  invari- 
able practice  for  more  than  half  a  century.  To  the 
last  week  of  his  life  he  continued  to  be  interested  in 
current  events,  and  manifested  in  various  ways  his 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  temperance  as  long  as  he  had 
strength  to  speak  above  a  whisper. 


748  REMINISCENCES 

On  Saturday  morning,  the  25th  of  September,  1897, 
General  Dow,  exhausted  by  the  effort  to  dress, 
fainted.  Soon  rallying,  he  indulged  during  the  day 
in  bright  and  cheerful  conversation  upon  various 
topics.  Sunday  morning  he  rose  as  usual,  but  in  the 
evening  upon  retiring  was  very  feeble.  Monday  he 
again  essayed  to  rise,  but  finding  himself  unequal 
to  the  effort,  said:  "This  is  the  beginning  of  the 
end,"  to  which  he  thenceforth  looked  forward  cheer- 
fully, suggesting  to  his  daughter  Cornelia,  who  was 
constantly  at  his  bedside,  that  the  funeral  services 
should  be  simple,  without  display,  and  indicating  the 
clergymen  he  desired  to  take  part. 

His  chief  solicitude  in  the  last  three  days  of  his 
life  was  lest  in  his  weakness  he  should  trouble  those 
who  were  caring  for  him.  His  last  eference  to  him- 
self was  two  days  before  his  death  when  he  said,  "I 
am  so  weary;  I  long  to  be  free."  Noticing  that  those 
gathered  near  him  were  affected  by  the  remark,  he 
quickly  added,  ' '  There  is  no  occasioi  for  this,  it  is  all 
right,"  and  with  evident  purpose  to  relieve  the  strain, 
spoke  with  so  much  liveliness  and  brightness  as  to 
cause  all  by  his  bedside  to  smile.  A  few  hours  before 
his  death,  his  daughters  and  son,  being  in  the  room, 
he  asked  that  his  daughter-in-law  be  called,  and  when 
she  joined  the  group,  he  said  with  a  smile,  ' '  Now  you 
are  all  together."  About  an  hour  before  the  end,  he 
recognized  his  son  with  a  bow  and  smile;  then  closing 
his  eyes  at  half  past  two  o'clock,  Saturday  afternoon, 
October  2d,  1897,  he  passed  quietly  to  rest. 

The  funeral  services  were  held  Tuesday  afternoon, 
October  5,  1897,  in  the  Payson  Memorial  church, 
which  could  not  accommodate  the  people  who,  crowd- 
ing its  large  auditorium,  also  thronged  the  entrances 


or    NEAL    DOW.  749 

of  the  cliurch  and  the  street  in  its  vicinity.  The  city 
government  was  present,  as  were  also  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  the  Veteran  Firemen's 
Association,  the  soldiers  of  General  Dow's  old  regi- 
ment, and  other  veterans,  the  members  of  the  Maine 
Charital^le  Mechanic's  Association,  and  members  and 
ex-members  of  the  Maine  legislature.  The  arrange- 
ments were  in  charge  of  Mr.  Henry  P.  Cox,  assisted 
by  Messrs.  James  F.  Hawkes,  Lyman  N.  Consens, 
Samuel  B.  Kelsey,  J.  E.  McDowell,  J.  W.  D.  Carter, 
and  J.  W.  Stevenson. 
A  morning  paper  of  the  next  day,  said : 

"Many  distinguished  men  and  women  were  present  to  do 
honor  to  General  Dow's  memory,  but  the  most  noticeable 
feature  of  the  occasion  was  the  very  large  attendance  of  peo- 
ple in  all  walks  of  life  who  came  to  show  heartfelt  respect  to 
the  memory  of  the  man  who  was  dear  to  them  because  of  the 
cause  he  championed." 

Joshua  L.  Bailey,  of  Pennsylvania,  Rev.  Theodore 
L.  Cuyler,  of  New  York,  Hon.  Nelson  Dingley,  Jr.,  of 
Maine,  Hon.  Henry  B.  Metcalf,  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
Benjamin  R.  Jewell,  of  Massachusetts,  were  appointed 
by  the  National  Temperance  Society  a  committee  to 
attend  the  funeral.  The  New  England  Sabbath  Pro- 
tective League,  of  which  General  Dow  was  a  vice- 
president,  was  represented  by  its  secretary.  Rev.  Dr. 
Martin  D.  Kneeland,  of  Boston.  Mr.  George  K. 
Shirley,  of  New  York,  so  long  and  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  General  Dow  in  temperance  work  in 
Maine,  was  among  those  present. 

The  pall-bearers  were :  Governor  Llewellyn  Powers, 
of  Maine,  Mayor  Charles  H.  Randall,  ex-Governor 
Sidney  Perham,  ex-Governor  Nelson  Dingley,  Jr., 
ex-Governor    General    Selden    Connor,     ex-Governor 


750  REMIXISCEXCES 

Frederick  Robie,  Judge  William  L.  Putnam,  of 
tlie  United  States  Circuit  Court,  ex-Mayor  General 
Francis  Fessenden,  ex-Mayor  Marquis  F.  King, 
the  collector  of  the  port,  ex-Mayor  John  W.  Deer- 
ing,  Hon.  William  G.  Davis,  president  of  the  bank 
of  which  General  Dow  was  long  a  director,  Edward 
H.  Daveis,  Esq.,  president  of  the  Portland  Gaslight 
company,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  fire-department  M.  N. 
Eldridge,  ex-Chief  Spencer  Rogers,  ex-Chief  A.  J. 
Cummings,  and  ex-Chief  Frank  Merrill. 

Rev.  Leroy  S.  Bean,  of  the  West-End  Congrega- 
tional church,  read  from  the  scriptures,  beginning 
with  the  familiar  passage :  ' '  Blessed  is  the  man  that 
walketh  not  in  the  counsels  of  the  ungodly,"  and 
closing  with  the  story  of  the  translation  of  the 
prophet  Elijah.  The  venerable  Methodist  divine, 
Rev.  D.  B.  Randall,  enfeebled  after  long  years  of 
labor  as  a  coadjutor  of  General  Dow  in  temperance 
and  antislavery  work,  offered  prayer. 

Rev.  Dr.  Asa  Dalton,  rector  of  the  St.  Stephen's 
Episcopal  church,  then  spoke  as  follows: 

"  '  A  prophet  is  not  without  honor,  save  in  his  own  country 
and  in  his  own  house.'  The  truth  of  the  saying  is  proved  l)y 
its  exceptions,  of  wdiich  Neal  Dow  furnishes  a  striking  exam- 
ple. The  general  recognition  of  his  great  work  and  greater 
worth,  is  no  less  creditable  to  the  people  of  Portland,  than  to 
Neal  Dow  himself. 

Distance  often  imparts  a  glow  to  a  view,  both  of  men  and 
things,  which  is  dissipated  by  coming  nearer  to  them.  Not  so 
with  Neal  Dow.  Greatly  as  he  is  honored  abroad,  he  is  even 
more  so  at  home,  where  his  whole  career  has  been  subject  to 
li«-hts  more  searching  than  beat  upon  a  throne,  which  have 
revealed  nothing  to  his  disadvantage.  They  have  served  only 
to  bring  out  into  clearer  view  his  many  admiral)le  traits  and 
the  sterling  worth  of  his  character. 

'  Call  no  man  happy  till  he  dies,'  was  a  saying  of  the 
ancient  Greeks.     Neal  Dow  was  happy  alike  in  life  and  death. 


OF    XEAL    DOW.  751 

Happy  in  his  ancestry,  in  his  parents,  the  home  influences  and 
training  which  started  him  in  the  right  direction.  It  was  the 
pure,  serene  atmosphere  of  the  Friends  which  he  breatlied 
from  his  birth  which  proved  a  tonic  to  his  moral  constitution. 
He  was  equally  happy  in  the  choice  he  made  of  a  moral  ahn  in 
life,  which  was  to  grow  and  strengthen  by  what  it  fed  upon  ; 
happy  in  the  town  where  he  began  to  carry  out  his  high  pur- 
pose. 

When  later  the  war  began,  his  patriotism  flamed  up,  and 
gave  him  the  grand  opportunity  to  serve  and  to  suffer  for  his 
country,  in  which  he  was  as  brave  and  unflinching  as  in  his 
previously  chosen  line  of  action.  Since  then,  he  has  had  the 
health  and  happiness  to  war  with  the  liquor-traffic  to  the  end 
of  his  earthly  life. 

General  Dow  knew  that  moral  influences  are  alone  sufiicient 
to  insure  the  flnal  and  full  triumph  of  the  cause  he  had  at 
heart.  He  was  not  a  man  of  one  idea  on  this  or  any  other 
subject.  So  far  from  this,  that  few  among  us  had  equally 
wide  and  diverse  sympathies,  tastes  and  pursuits.  He  was 
the  friend  and  advocate  of  every  good  cause,  A  more  public 
spirited  citizen  has  never  lived  in  Portland.  His  love  for  his 
native  city  was  a  ruling  passion  to  the  end.  He  was  equally 
proud  of  our  state,  and  all  the  states.  For  his  country  he 
suffered  and  bled,  when  by  reason  of  age  he  could  have 
claimed  exemption  from  active  duty.  Nor  was  he  a  man  of 
action  merely.  He  had  a  vigorous,  discriminating  intellect. 
As  an  effective  speaker  and  writer,  he  has  never  been  sur- 
passed. His  power  of  making  a  statement,  clear,  cogent  and 
conclusive,  was  unequaled  in  his  day. 

Above  all,  he  delighted  in  his  choice  and  extensive  library, 
in  which  he  passed  perhaps  the  happiest  hours  of  his  life. 
Hio;h  rose  the  tide  of  emotion  in  the  heart  of  the  orator  as  he 
surveyed  the  listening  crowds  with  their  upturned  faces,  but 
far  purer  and  deeper  was  the  converse  held  by  Neal  Dow  with 
his  favorite  authors,  both  native  and  foreign.  Macaulay's  and 
Milton's  praise  of  good  books  he  could  have  repeated  from 
his  heart. 

Perhaps  few  of  our  people  knew  his  interest  in  all  the  great 
political  movements  and  changes  of  our  time.  I  have  heard 
him  discuss  European  affairs  with  such  men  as  Dean  Farrar, 
Canon  Wilberforce,  and  Phillips  Brooks,  where  he  more  than 
held  his  own  and  showed  an  intimate  knowledge  of  haute 
politique. 

But  enouo;h.     Let  others  dwell  and  dilate  on  his  sinsjular 


752  REMINISCENCES 

ofifts  and  o-reat  life-work  which  will  surely  secure  to  him  the 
widest  fame  ;  but  to  ourselves  we  will  reserve  the  right  to 
claim  him  as  a  fellow-citizen  whose  fame  the  state  and  city 
will  jealously  and  proudly  guard  and  yet  perpetuate  in  bronze 
or  marble ;  a  neighbor  w^ho  was  an  example  to  us  all  in 
knightly  courtesy  and  every  civil  duty ;  a  friend,  who  held  us 
to  himself  by  l)ands  more  delicate  than  silk  and  more  firm 
than  steel.  Let  the  idlers  among  us  be  aroused  and  incited 
by  his  incessant  activity.  O  well  might  his  last  words  be 
'  I  am  weary,'  Who  than  he  had  a  better  right  to  be  weary, 
not  of,  but  in  his  w^ork.  Again,  '  I  long  to  be  free  ! '  Ay, 
his  was  the  eagle's  upward  gaze  and  flight,  and  as  the  bird 
escaped  from  tlie  cage  in  which  he  had  been  imprisoned  his 
soul  would  fain  mount  upward  to  heavenly  heights,  fly  away, 
and  be  '  at  rest.' " 

Dr.  Dalton  was  followed  by  Kev.  A.  H.  Wriglit,  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  Congregational  cliurcli,  who  said : 

"Gratitude  and  gladness  mingle  with  the  sorrow  of  this 
hour.  We  are  deeply  thankful  that  the  long  and  beneficent 
life  of  our  departed  fellow-citizen  has  l)een  lived  in  our  city 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  We  are  thankful  for  the  luster 
his  noble  life,  grand  achievements  and  illustrious  name  have 
shed  upon  our  city  and  commonwealth.  We  are  glad  that  he 
was  spared  in  marvelous  vigor  of  mind  and  health  of  l)ody  to 
his  extreme  old  age.  We  rejoice  over  the  great  moral  and 
political  results  of  his  life-work. 

The  story  of  his  life  has  often  been  told  ;  it  need  not  be 
rehearsed  here.  There  came  a  day  in  his  early  manhood, 
when  this  great  life  which  has  gone  out  from  our  presence, 
was  consciously  given  to  the  work  of  temperance  reform. 
Then  the  high  purpose  of  his  life  w^as  formed,  then  he  elected 
his  mission,  then  he  consecrated  his  heart,  his  intellect,  his 
energies  and  his  inspiring  personality  to  the  task  of  depriving 
the  licensed  saloon-keeper  of  his  legal  right  to  ruin  homes  and 
destroy  human  happiness. 

Apart  from  this  noble  consecration  of  self  to  the  work.  Pro- 
hibition had  never  been  an  accomplished  fact,  nor  would  Neal 
Dow  have  immortalized  his  name  as  the  framer  and  father  of 
the  iNIaine  Law.  This  consecrated  purpose  was  formed  as 
early  as  1830  or  I'S.'U  when  Mr.  Dow  Avas  not  more  than  27 
years  of  age.  His  settled  determination  to  devote  himself  to 
the  advocacy  of  the  principles  of  legislative  prohibition  was 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  753'- 

formed  some  four  or  live  years  later.  In  his  earlier  efforts 
Mr.  Dow  had  no  intention  of  devoting  his  life  to  this  cause, 
much  less  to  become  a  professional  reformer. 

He  was  a  man  of  business,  devoting  his  leisure  time  to  tem- 
perance work,  but  now  began  more  earnest  and  exacting 
labors  in  this  cause.  While  interested  in  industrial,  educa- 
tional and  philanthropic  interests,  notably  the  antislavery 
cause,  he  was  more  and  more  becoming  personally  identified 
with  that  of  temperance  reform  and  legislation.  His  conse- 
crated purpose  made  him,  unconsciously,  a  professional  re- 
former. 

Still  another  important  moral  factor  in  the  great  achieve- 
ments of  this  remarkable  man  was  the  strength  of  his 
personal  convictions  respecting  the  prohibitive  principle  as 
right,  sound,  and  entirely  practicable. 

Neal  Dow  was  no  dreamer ;  no  wild  visionary  seeking  to 
achieve  the  impossible.  He  never  expected  that  bad  men  and 
women  could  be  made  good  by  legislative  enactment.  It  is 
not  true  that  '  he  believed  that  men  may  be  made  moral  and 
temperate  by  statute.'  But  he  did  believe,  and  he  never 
ceased  to  believe,  in  the  possible  and  reasonable  suppression 
of  the  rum-traffic  by  legal  prohibition.  He  did  believe  until 
the  day  of  his  death  that  the  possible  and  practical  enforce- 
ment of  the  Maine  Law  would  banish  liquor-saloons  from  our 
streets,  drive  the  infamous  traffic  into  darkness  and  rob  it  of 
its  glamour  of  respectability,  its  alluring  and  glaring  temp- 
tations and  its  insidious  perils. 

This  was  his  aim,  this  he  studied  and  toiled  to  accomplish 
—  to  remove  from  those  weak  or  diseased  men  and  women,  in 
whom  appetite  for  strong  drink,  hereditary  or  acquired,  held 
sway  over  their  will,  conscience  and  reason,  the  open,  visible, 
public  temptation  of  the  licensed  saloon.  That  this  ought  to 
be  done  and  could  be  done,  Neal  Dow  never  for  a  moment 
doubted. 

This  was  Neal  Dow's  contention.  Not '  that  men  may  be 
made  moral  and  temperate  by  statute,'  but  that  they  could  be 
delivered  from  temptation,  and  that  this  would  be  a  most 
important  and  valuable  aid  to  their  reform  by  moral  suasion 
and  Christian  effort. 

These,  then,  were  the  strong  moral  forces  in  the  heart  of 
our  venerated  and  distinguished  citizen  whose  spirit  is 
departed:  sympathy,  consecration,  conviction.  There  were 
not  wanting  auxiliary  forces  to  support  and  direct  these  moral 
qualities — keen  intelligence,   practical  wisdom,  heroic  cour- 


754  KEMINISCENCES 

age,  power  of  concentrating  thought  and  will  and  ceaseless 
energy.  Neal  Dow  was  a  mighty  worker.  He  possessed 
large  capacity  for  great  achievement.  He  was,  we  believe, 
kind  and  true  in  his  sympathies,  sincere  and  noble  in  his  self- 
consecration,  and  sound  and  right  in  his  convictions.  Of  him 
it  may  be  said:  He  was  great  in  peace,  great  in  war,  and 
great  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  His  name  will  never 
be  forgotten,  nor  his  work  undone. 

It  behooves  us,  as  his  fellow-citizens,  to  revere  his  memory, 
to  emulate  his  virtues  and  to  esteem  him  very  highly  for  his 
works'  sake." 

Rev.  Rollin  T.  Hack,  pastor  of  the  Payson  Memorial 
churcli,  then  spoke  as  follows: 

"The  voice  of  a  prophet  is  stilled. 

For  three  score  and  ten  years,  since  he  made  his  first 
speech  in  favor  of  temperance,  Neal  Dow  has  been  like  a 
prophet  of  old  to  this  land.  He  had  the  spirit  of  the  old 
Hebrew  prophets.  Few  men  have  read  those  ancient  Hebrew 
oracles  oftener  than  he,  and  he  had  aljsorbed  their  spirit.  He 
was  in  sympathy  with  their  passionate  protests  against  evil 
and  their  appeals  for  righteousness.  The  prophet  sees  truth 
at  first  hand.  He  does  not  quote.  He  has  an  immediate  con- 
sciousness of  it,  its  authenticity  and  its  authority.  He  gives 
himself  to  its  dominion  and  dedicates  body  and  soul  to  its 
diftusion. 

Such  was  Neal  Dow.  He  gave  himself  to  the  cause  of 
temperance  with  a  passionate  devotion.  With  him  it  w^as  the 
cause  of  righteousness,  and  humanity.  There  is  enlargement 
and  life-giving  power  in  ideas  that  root  themselves  in  eternal 
righteousness  and  a  man  possessed  with  such  ideas  is  worth 
more  to  the  world  than  armies  and  navies. 

When  such  a  man  speaks  it  is  with  not  only  the  prophet's 
conviction,  but  with  the  prophet's  power.  Men  cannot 
remain  indifferent  to  him.  They  may  oppose  Init  they  must 
rouse  themselves  for  some  action.  This  has  been  the  success 
of  the  life  we  remember  to-day.  It  does  not  need  mention 
in  this  presence,  but  more  than  to  any  other  leader  probably, 
it  was  due  to  him  that  men  were  com})elled  to  stop  and 
examine  the  grounds  of  their  individual  and  social  life  touch- 
ing intemperance.  They  were  obliged  to  admit  the  evil, 
acknowledire  the  wroncf. 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  755 

Thus  was  well  begun  the  great  temperance  movement  which 
was  not  limited  to  our  land  and  which  to-day  is  a  leading 
issue  in  the  world.  He  was  a  great  leader.  He  inspired 
men  with  the  idea  that  they  might  master  the  liquor-traffic 
instead  of  allowing  it  to  master  them. 

The  '  Golden  Rule '  and  the  fact  that  each  man  is  his 
'  1)rother's  keeper,'  he  felt  and  strove  to  make  others  feel. 
He  was  statesman  as  well  as  prophet  like  many  of  the 
prophets  of  old.  He  embodied  his  convictions  in  law  and 
thus  built  a  breakwater  against  the  encroaching  evil, —  a  wall 
of  defense  for  the  weak. 

He  was  not  an  easy  leader  to  follow.  He  saw  the  right  so 
clearly,  he  was  so  loyal  to  it,  that  any  hesitation  was  scarcely 
to  l)e  tolerated.  But  though  he  struck  hard  blow^s,  it  w^as  not 
with  personal  animosity.  He  saw^  men  through  the  truth  that 
he  had  given  himself  to,  and  as  they  were  for  or  against  it, 
he  judged  them.     But  personal  hatreds  he  did  not  cherish. 

His  courage  was  unwavering,  magnificent.  He  was  never 
daunted.      He  was 

'  One  who  never  turned  his  back  but  marched 
lireast  forward. 
Never  doubted  clouds  would  break, 
Never  dreamed,  tho'  right  were  worsted. 
Wrong  would  triumph.' 

He  never  ceased  to  believe  in  the  triumph  of  temperance 
for  it  was  the  cause  of  humanity,  of  righteousness,  the  cause 
of  God. 

This  was  the  secret  of  his  life,  his  power.  Like  one  in  the 
far  past  '  he  endured  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible.' 

And  the  presence  that  was  so  potent,  so  courageous,  so  full 
of  encouragement  to  us,  has  gone  out  into  the  unseen,  full  of 
years  and  honors. 

Not  in  a  chariot  of  fire,  but  iDeacefully  as  the  full  tide  slips 
from  the  shore  he  went,  so  that  he  might  have  said  with  the 
great  poet : 

'  Sunset  and  evening  star 

And  one  clear  call  for  me  ! 
And  may  there  be  no  moaning  of  the  bar, 
When  I  put  out  to  sea, 

But  such  a  tide  as  moving  seems  asleep. 

Too  full  for  sound  and  foam. 
When  that  which  drew  from  out  the  lioundless  deep 

Turns  again  home. 


756  REMIXISCE^^CES   OF  XEAL  DOW. 

Twilight  and  evening  l)ell, 

And  after  that  the  dark  ! 
And  may  there  be  no  sadness  of  farewell 

When  I  embark ; 

For  tho'  from  out  our  bourne  of  time  and  place 

The  flood  may  bear  me  far, 
I  hope  to  see  my  Pilot  face  to  face 

When  I  have  crost  the  l)ar.' 

But  friends,  we  are  not  gathered  here  merely  to  honor  him 
who  has  gone.  God  honored  him.  His  work  is  done. 
Something  remains  for  us.  The  prophet's  voice  is  stilled  but 
the  prophet's  message  remains.  Its  appeal  is  to  us.  Upon 
whom  shall  a  double  portion  of  the  spirit  of  Elijah  fall? 
What  we  need  are  men  who  are  '  initiated  into  the  mystery  of 
invisible  things.' 

'  Men  whom  highest  hope  inspires. 
Men  whom  purest  honor  fires, 
Men  who  trample  self  beneath  them, 

*  *  * 

Men  who  never  shame  their  mothers, 
Men  who  never  fail  their  brothers, 
True,  however  false  are  others. 

*  *  * 

Men  who  when  the  tempest  gathers. 
Grasp  the  standard  of  their  fathers, 

In  the  thickest  fight. 
Men  wdio  strike  for  home  and  altar 
(Let  the  coward  cringe  and  falter), 

God  defend  the  right ! 

True  as  truth,  tho'  lorn  and  lonely, 
Tender  —  as  the  brave  are  only  ; 
Men  who  tread  where  saints  have  trod. 
Men  for  country,  home  and  God  : 
Give  us  men  !     I  say  again,  again, 
Give  us  such  men  ! ' " 

At  the  close  of  the  services  nearly  an  hour  was 
occupied  by  the  great  crowd  in  filing  past  the  casket, 
which  was  placed  in  front  of  the  pulpit.  The  inter- 
ment was  in  the  family  tomb  at  Evergreen  cemetery. 


SUPPLEMENTAEY. 


II. 

SOME     PRESS      AND     OTHER      NOTICES     OF     THE      DEATH     OF 
GENERAL     DOW.         PRESENTATION     OF     PORTRAIT     TO 
THE     CITY.       ADDRESSES     OF     HON.    JOSEPH     W. 
SYMONDS   AND   REV.  DR.    HENRY    S.  BUR- 
RAGE.  RESOLUTIONS     OF  *  THE 
CITY     GOVERNMENT. 


At  its  regular  meeting,  Monday  evening,  October  4, 
after  the  death,  of  General  Dow,  the  city  government 
unanimously  adopted  the  following  resolutions,  sub- 
mitted by  Mayor  Randall: 

"  Whereas,  It  has  pleased  Divine  Providence  to  remove 
from  our  midst  our  honored  and  distinguished  fellow-citizen, 
who  for  over  ninety-three  years  has  been  a  resident  of  our 
city,  be  it 

"  Resolved,  That  as  representatives  of  this  city,  of  which 
he  has  twice  been  mayor,  we  sincerely  mourn  his  loss  and 
extend  our  heartfelt  sympathy  to  his  family  and  friends. 

'■^Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  the  city  council  that  all 
city  offices  be  closed  at  twelve,  noon,  Tuesday,  the  day  of  the 
funeral,  and  remain  closed  the  remainder  of  the  day,  and  it 
is  sincerely  hoped  that  all  places  of  business  will  show  their 
respect  for  the  deceased  by  closing  during  the  hours  of  the 
funeral. 

^^  Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  the 
records  and  a  copy  sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased." 

49 


758  KEMINISCENCES 

Resolutions  of  similar  import  were  adopted  by 
various  other  bodies  in  the  city,  while  temperance 
organizations,  and  religious  societies  in  this  and 
other  lands  paid  tributes  to  General  Dow's  memory, 
and  memorial  services  were  held  by  many  churches  in 
this  country,  the  Canadas,  and  Great  Britain. 

Almost  the  entire  press  of  this  and  other  lands 
noticed  the  death  of  General  Dow,  English  as  well 
as  American  papers  making  extensive  references  to 
his  life  and  labors.  Space  is  only  found  for  brief 
extracts  from  the  notices  of  him  in  some  of  the  papers 
of  his  native  city  and  state,  where  his  life  had  been 
spent,  and  where  he  was  best  known. 

In  General  Dow's  death  Portland  loses  her  most  distin- 
guished citizen,  and  the  common  country  a  unique  and 
energetic  reformer  and  philanthropist.  It  is  only  deserved 
praise  to  say  that  he,  by  his  burning  zeal  and  his  fifty  years 
of  unceasing  agitation,  has  l)een  a  mighty  force  for  good  in 
the  world.  —  Portland  Advertiser. 

He  was  a  man  whose  virtues  were  of  the  antique  type  ; 
virtues  put  out  to  use  in  the  service  of  his  city,  of  his  state 
and  of  his  country,  and  backed  by  a  force  of  character  and 
strength  of  will  which  no  obstacle  could  daunt  nor  discourage- 
ment subdue. — Portland  Argus. 

While  man  shall  hope  for  progress,  toilers  for  the  welfare 
of  the  race  may  draw-  inspiration  from  the  example  set  by 
Neal  Dow,  and  emulate  the  faith  and  courage  with  which  he 
devoted  his  life  to  what  he  believed  was  right.  —  Portland 
Evening  Express. 

Neal  Dow  wrought  long  and  well,  with  a  steadfastness  of 
purpose  that  knew  no  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning,  with 
a  courage  that  never  flinched,  with  a  sublime  faith  that  never 
permitted  him  to  doubt  for  a  moment  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
his  cause.     What  l)etter  culogv  than  this?  —  Portland  Press. 

The  city  bows  its  head  in  unaffected  sorrow  at  the  passing 
of  a  man  who  has  made  the  fame  of  cit}''  and  state  wide  as  the 
w'aters  be,  and  whose  repute  is  borne  on  the  trumpets  of  the 


OF   NEAL    DOW.  759 

wind  from  the  four  quarters  of  heaven. — Portland    Sunday 
Telegram, 

His  last  days  were  passed  amid  the  general  praise  and  good 
will  of  a  generation  which  has  given  full  credit  to  his  sincerity 
and  to  his  great  influence  in  the  temperance  cause.  —  Portland 
Sunday  Times. 

Whatever  standpoint  one  assumes  in  regard  to  the  wisdom 
of  the  special  legislation  with  which  Mr.  Dow's  name  was 
connected,  the  influence  his  work  has  exerted  on  customs, 
morals  and  practical  legislation  is  hard  to  overestimate.  — 
Portland  TranscrijU. 

Neal  Dow's  memory  will  always  be  revered  and  respected. 
— Bangor  JSfeivs. 

His  death  will  be  sincerely  mourned,  not  only  by  his  imme- 
diate family  and  friends,  but  1)y  thousands  who  were  in 
sympathy  with  his  life-work  for  the  suppression  of  intemper- 
ance.—  Bangor  Whig  and  Courier. 

Maine  has  reared  many  famous  men,  but  few  will  be 
mourned  by  more  people  or  their  names  be  longer  honored  and 
reverenced  than  this  Apostle  of  Temperance.  —  Bath  Times. 

He  has  passed  peacefully  to  his  rest  after  a  career  which 
merits  an  honored  place  in  American  history  and  in  the  mem- 
ory of  his  fellow-countrymen.  — Biddeford  Journal . 

He  hath  not  lived  in  vain.  The  incidents  of  his  life  and 
death,  and  the  remarkable  tribute  paid  to  his  memory  by  the 
nations  as  they  stood  at  his  bier  with  uncovered  heads,  dem- 
onstrate this  more  clearly  than  any  mere  words  of  his  most 
enthusiastic  eulogist.  — Bridgton  j^ews. 

The  labors  of  Neal  Dow  will  ever  be  remembered  as  the 
labors  of  a  man  sincere,  earnest  and  philanthropic,  and  actu- 
ated by  a  deep  regard  for  the  good  of  his  fellow-men. — 
Calais  Advertiser. 

His  political  record,  like  his  private  life,  is  clean  and 
honorable.  —  Calais  Times. 

As  a  benefactor  of  his  race  General  Neal  Dow  will  be  held 
in  grateful  remembrance.  Those  who  have  1)een  helped  by 
him  along  the  upward  way  to  a  nobler  and  better  life  will  not 
let  his  name  be  forgotten.  —  Chrif<lian  Mirror. 


760  EEMIXISCENCES 

Neal  Dow  lived  to  see  our  state  emerge  from  the  shadows 
of  free  rum  and  poverty  into  a  condition  of  temperance  and 
prosperity,  to  which  result  his  efforts  more  than  any  other 
single  agency  contributed.  — ( RocMand)  Courier-Gazette. 

His  name  will  not  soon  perish  among  men,  and  his  noble 
record  will  long  work  as  a  leavening  influence  in  human 
hearts.  —  GoKj)el  Banner. 

He  would  not  compromise  with  the  enemy,  whether  fight- 
ing the  liquor-traffic  or  the  foes  of  the  Union.  He  was 
indeed  wonderfully  equipped  for  the  work  of  his  life,  and  the 
many  years,  indomital^le  energy  and  rugged  health  vouch- 
safed to  him  were  so  completely  utilized  that  in  his  last 
moments  he  could  not  look  back  with  that  sense  of  regret 
which  comes  to  those  who  falter  by  the  wayside. — Kennebec 
'Journal. 

And  as  the  years  pass  the  nobility  of  his  character,  the 
fidelity  of  his  life,  and  the  unselfishness  of  his  aims  will  be 
more  and  more  recoi^nized.  — Lewiston  Journal. 

His  private  life  was  singularly  free  from  reproach,  and  his 
long  career  furnished  a  shining  example  of  sturdy  upright- 
nes,  of  unselfishness  and  of  devotion  to  principle.  —  Lewiston 
Sun. 

Generations  will  come  and  go  before  the  direct  influence  of 
this  great  prohibition  leader  will  be  lost  to  the  citizens  of 
New  England  —  Maine  Farmer. 

All  acknowledge  the  integrity,  sincerity,  earnestness  of 
purpose  and  purity  of  motive  which  characterized  him.  —  Old 
Tou:n  Enterprise. 

The  tril)utes  to  his  memory  are  many,  and  none  are  more 
hearty  than  those  from  opponents  of  the  cause  he  held  most 
dear,  1)ut  who  freely  testify  to  their  admiration  of  him  as  a 
man.  —  (Belfast)  Bejmhlican  Journal. 

In  every  work  for  the  good  of  the  public,  during  his  long 
and  active  life,  he  has  been  ever  foremost.  —  Rockland 
Opinion. 

In  the  death  of  General  Neal  Dow,  Maine  loses  one  of  its 
most  noted  residents,  a  man  whose  reputation  was  world-wide 
and  untarnished.  —  RocMand  Star. 


OF    NEAL    DOAV.  761 

The  people  of  Maine  honor  the  memory  of  her  great  apostle 
of  Prohibition.  —  Skoivhegan  Reporter. 

Maine  will  long  hold  in  proud  remembrance  the  name  of 
him,  her  greatest  apostle  of  temperance. —  Waterville  Mail. 

Mr.  Dow  has  done  more  for  the  peace  and  sobriety  of  the 
home  than  any  man  living.  —  Westbrooh  Globe-Star. 

Few  of  Maine's  famous  men  will  be  mourned  by  more 
people  or  their  names  be  longer  honored  than  he  who  was  not 
inappropriately  styled  "The  Grand  Old  Man." —  Winthrop 
Banner. 

Under  date  of  November  1,  1897,  the  mayor  of 
Portland  wrote  the  following  letter: 

"Mayor's  Office,  Portland,  Me. 
Hon.  F.  N.  Dow. 

Dear  Sir :  —  Ever  since  the  death  of  your  honored  father, 
I  have  thought  that,  out  of  respect  to  his  memory  as  a  former 
mayor  of  our  city,  and  in  recognition  of  his  services  to  the 
country  during  the  Civil  war,  and  in  honor  of  a  distinguished 
son  of  Portland,  whose  name  is  known  throughout  the  world, 
his  portrait  should  l)e  hung  in  the  office  of  the  mayor,  as  is 
that  of  that  other  distinguished  citizen  of  our  city,  William 
Pitt  Fessenden  ;  and  I  sincerely  hope  that  at  an  early  date 
you  will  furnish  his  portrait  for  this  purpose,  which  I  know 
will  meet  the  approval  of  your  fellow-citizens. 

Yours  truly, 

C.  H.  Randall,  Mayor." 

On  Monday  afternoon,  March  21,  1898,  the  mayor's 
rooms  were  crowded  by  those  attracted  by  the 
announcement  that  a  portrait  of  General  Dow, 
painted  by  Walter  Gilman  Page,  of  Boston,  was  to 
be  presented  to  the  city.  The  gathering-  included 
clergymen,  lawyers,  physicians,  and  representative 
business  men,  besides  many  ladies.  At  the  hour 
designated  the  folds  of  the  American  flag  which 
had  concealed  the  portrait  were  withdrawn  and 
Colonel  Frederick  N.  Dow,  addressing  Mayor  Ean- 
dall,  said: 


762  REMINISCENCES 

"  Mr.  Mayor,  you  will  remember  that  some  months  since 
you  requested  me  to  furnish  for  this  room  a  picture  of  my 
honored  father.  In  -compliance  with  that  request,  I  present 
through  you  to  the  city  this  portrait  of  one  who,  during  his 
long  life  in  this  community  was  guided  in  his  oiBcial  and 
private  walk  by  the  principle  that  the  puljlic  welfare  should 
be  the  chief  concern  of  every  citizen.  I  venture  to  express 
the  hope  that  the  city  will  receive  it  and  care  for  it  as  it 
guards  the  likenesses  of  its  other  chief  magistrates,  who,  like 
my  father,  have  rendered  to  this  community  unseltish  ser- 
vice." 

Hon.  Joseph  W.  Symonds,  late  a  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Maine,  and  than  whom  none  in  the 
state  stands  higher  as  a  lawyer,  followed  Colonel 
Dow.  After  alluding  to  Commodore  Preble,  to 
William  Pitt  Fessenden,  to  Henry  W.  Longfellow, 
to  Nathaniel  Parker  Willis,  and  to  Paul  Akers,  as 
sons  of  Maine  who  had  shed  upon  Portland  the 
luster  of  an  undying  fame.  Judge  Symonds  said: 

"  What  wealth  of  incident  and  private  character,  what  bril- 
liancy and  renown  of  public  service,  what  halo  of  learning  and 
virtue,  what  richly  freighted  memories  and  associations  of 
beautiful  and  noble  lives,  have  the  years  drawn  about  this 
goodly  city  of  ours  by  the  sea  !  They  are  in  all  our  minds, 
we  need  not  name  them. 

We  are  assembled  to-day  to  look  upon  a  portrait,  which  the 
hand  of  genius  has  touched,  of  a  man  whose  life,  only  recently 
closed,  from  a  period  which  long  precedes  the  recollection  of 
us  all,  was  as  nmch  a  part  of  his  native  city  as  the  glor}^  of  the 
morning  })reaking  over  our  eastern  bay,  as  the  high  noon 
when  it  looks  down  into  our  tree-bordered  streets,  as  the 
sunset  waning  in  trenmlous  beauty  into  night  beyond  the 
western  hills;  and  like  the  sunlight,  too,  in  its  influence 
encircling   the   globe. 

The  proprieties  of  this  occasion,  to  which  I  would  sensi- 
tively respond,  forbid  my  venturing  in  what  I  say  beyond  the 
limits  of  common  ground,  on  which  we  all  can  meet.  No  line 
of  disputed  boundary  shall  be  crossed  or  reached  ])y  me. 
Methods  and  means  and  all  that  pertains  to  controversy  are 
far  removed  from  our  thought  to-day.      I  sound  no  jarring 


OF   XEAL    DOW.  763 

note.  I  would  speak  only  the  common  sentiment,  only  those 
things  on  which  the  minds  of  all  agree. 

That  the  lite  of  General  Neal  Dow  was  pure  and  noble  and 
good,  that  throughout  its  course,  from  first  to  last,  he  labored 
for  a  beneficent  end,  in  all  sincerity  and  disinterestedly,  with 
such  diligence  in  a  public  cause  as  men  ordinarily  apply  to 
their  private  afiairs,  that  his  voice  was  an  eloquent  one  and 
his  pen  facile,  efi'ective,  fine  and  strong,  that  large  bodies  of 
good  men  here  and  elsewhere,  at  home  and  abroad,  looked  to 
him  as  leader  and  guide,  and  looking  to  him  far  in  advance 
never  saw  a  faltering  step,  listening  to  him  never  heard  a 
word  of  doubt  or  fear,  only  the  clarion  note  from  farther  and 
farther  height,  that  as  in  peace  he  had  labored  for  mankind, 
for  the  good  of  all,  so  at  the  sound  of  war  it  was  easy  for  him 
to  spring  to  the  very  height  of  patriotism  in  the  hour  of  his 
country's  danger,  these  things  none  will  denv ;  and  what 
more  Avould  just  eulogy  demand? 

Rawlinson,  musing  over  the  ruins  of  Assyria,  repeats  the 
warning,  which  the  records  of  nations  so  constantly  enforce, 
that  the  greatest  material  prosperity  may  co-exist  with  the 
decline,  and  may  herald  the  downfall  of  a  kingdom. 

But  here  was  a  man  whose  life  was  devoted  to  an  idea; 
who  left  the  paths  of  throbbing,  busy  life,  the  field  of  palpa- 
ble, material  interests,  to  labor  —  I  will  not  say  for  an 
abstraction,  it  was  not  that  —  but  for  a  theory  of  legislation 
as  a  means  to  a  higher  end,  the  protection  of  society ;  for  a 
theory  of  legislation  in  which  not  his  own  welfare  but  (as  he 
believed)  the  good  of  the  world  was  involved.  What  ele- 
ment of  knightly  honor  or  devotion  was  wanting  in  the  cour- 
age, faith,  ardor,  with  which  he  upheld  the  cause  to  which  he 
had  given  his  life  ? 

A  man  of  courtly  presence  and  manner,  of  noble  simplicity 
of  life,  earnest,  resolute,  full  of  resource,  he  Avas  great  in  the 
singleness  of  heart  and  persistency  of  aim  with  which  he 
pursued  his  own  ideal  of  the  public  good,  and  in  the  unceas- 
ing enthusiasm  and  passionate  zeal  which  warmed  the  heart  of 
old  age  with  the  very  lifeblood  of  youth. 

It  need  not  l)e  said  that  General  Dow  was  as  far  removed  as 
possible  from  the  adventurer  seeking  personal  gain  from  the 
cause  he  espoused.  On  the  contrary,  as  we  all  know,  he  was 
a  gentleman  of  family  and  private  fortune,  w^ho  could  com- 
mand his  own  time  and  gave  it  freely,  his  life  long,  to 
profound  thoughtfulness,  patient  study,  active  service,  in  the 
advancement  of  the  highest  interests  of  society.     Abroad,  his 


764  REMINISCENCES 

reputation  might  be  associated  with  a  single  subject,  with 
which  he  identitied  the  state  of  Maine  and  made  it  widely 
known,  but  we  knew  him  as  he  was,  a  man  of  culture,  of 
wide  and  varied  reading,  of  large  experience  of  life,  a  close 
observer  and  deep  student  of  all  social  problems,  of  great 
natural  gifts,  of  fervid  and  intrepid  energy ;  who  would  have 
acted  well  his  part  in  any  crisis,  and  would  have  distinguished 
himself  in  any  held.  He  had  a  rare  courage,  the  courage  to 
meet  bitter  and  relentless  opposition,  and  to  accept  grave 
responsibility. 

I  should  not  be  true  to  my  own  thought  if  I  were  to  say  that 
this  good  man  was  always  wholly  just  in  his  judgments  of  those 
who  differed  from  him.  Not  that  he  was  ever  consciously 
unjust ;  far  from  that.  But  a  flaming  zeal  does  not  always 
measure  its  words.  A  single-minded,  single-hearted  devotion 
does  not  scan  the  whole  heavens.  It  looks  along  its  own  line 
of  action  ;  it  cleaves  its  way  to  its  goal.  Of  such  a  man  the 
judicial  faculty  and  habit  of  mind  should  not  be  required. 
Such  a  temperament,  evenly  balanced,  is  not  suited  to  the 
work  he  had  to  do,  to  the  mission  he  was  appointed  to  fulfill. 

He  charged  upon  those  who,  he  thought,  stood  in  the  way 
of  his  cause,  as  Christian  upon  Apollyon,  with  as  little  hesita- 
tion what  weapon  to  use,  or  where  to  strike,  and  with  as  little 
shrinking  from  the  flaming  darts  hurled,  'thick  as  hail,'  in 
return.  But  to  him  the  personal  encounter  was  only  an  inci- 
dent of  the  larger  strife.  Before  his  mind  was  always  the 
hideous  dragon-shape,  winged,  mailed,  l)reathing  flame,  a 
menace  and  })eril  to  all  the  pilgrims  in  the  valley,  a  perpetual 
barrier  in  the  path  of  human  progress.  Against  this  giant 
form  of  evil,  cumbering  the  King's  highway,  the  arrows  from 
his  quiver  were  aimed,  and,  if  they  wounded  another,  it  was 
but  an  incident  and  a  sign  of  the  violence  of  tiic  conflict. 

And  now,  Mr.  Mayor,  on  this  spot  identiflcd  from  an  early 
period  with  the  history  of  Portland  as  town  or  city,  under  the 
dome  of  our  City  Hall,  in  response,  1  ))elievc  I  may  say,  to 
Your  Honor's  special  request  that  such  a  portrait  of  General 
Dow  as  this  might  ])e  placed  among  those  of  the  mayors  of 
Portland — Your  Honor  possibh'  remembering  how  slow  as  a 
l)eo])le  we  are  with  our  pu])lic  works  of  art  —  with  a  fllial 
pride  and  sense  of  grateful  obligation  with  which  we  can  all 
most  deeply  sympathize,  his  son  has  delivered  to  the  munici- 
pality this  portrait  of  its  great  Chief  Magistrate,  Your  Honor's 
predecessor  in  oilice  nearly  half  a  century  ago.  The  other 
events  of  the  dav  will  soon  l>e  loriifotten,  but  the  name  and 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  705 

fame  of  Neal  Dow,  and  the  good  influences  of  hi.s  life  and 
lalwr,  will  long  remain.  In  the  years  to  come  the  footsteps 
of  citizens  and  strangers,  and  especially  of  visitors  from  a  dis- 
tance, will  linger  a])out  this  portrait  more,  I  suppose,  than 
about  any  other  in  the  honored  line,  and  when  we  begin  the 
work  of  erecting  a  statue  to  his  memory — which  we  all  hope 
will  not  be  long  delayed — we  shall  lind  the  world  interested 
in  the  undertaking,  and  more  persons  ready  and  willino-  to 
take  part  in  it  than  would  be  similarly  interested  in  a  statue 
proposed  for  any  other  man  who  ever  made  his  home  in  Port- 
land. 

When  we  stand  upon  the  deck  of  the  l)ark  fast  flying  from 
the  shore,  and  the  line  of  coast  disappears  and  the  headlands 
and  hills  and  all  the  land  go  down  and  the  islands  are 
swallowed  up,  then  (as  Choate  said  of  Webster,  so  in  another 
vein  we  may  say  of  this  honored  townsman  of  ours)  then  the 
mountain  appears,  the  great  moral  or  intellectual  height, 
swelling  far  up  from  the  subject  and  fading  vale,  clouds  and 
tempests  and  the  noise  of  waves  at  its  feet,  eternal  sunshine 
upon  its  head. 

Westminster  Abbey  has  been  called  the  great  temple  of 
silence  and  reconciliation,  where  the  enmities  of  twenty  gen- 
erations lie  Iniried. 

Strange,  in  the  presence  of  death,  how  poor  and  small  seem 
all  the  bitter  controversies  and  enmities  of  this  world ! 
Friend  and  enemy  stand  side  by  side,  with  bowed  heads,  in 
the  same  silence,  by  the  good  man's  grave.  When  his  life 
has  closed,  all  perceive  that  hy  some  subtle  law  of  this 
universe  —  in  which  law  are  the  very  habitation  and  throne 
of  the  eternal  right  —  by  some  law  of  the  universe  what  was 
best  and  truest  in  his  life  and  character  has  become  the  meas- 
ure of  their  abiding  and  permanent  value.  Differences  cease, 
enmities  are  silent.  The  high  purpose,  the  true  motive  and 
intent,  the  nol)le  endeavor,  the  great  example,  nature  takes 
these  all  to  herself ;  the  world  takes  them  to  itself.  They 
become  part  of  the  universal  order.  Their  influence  goes 
forth,  as  the  winds  and  the  waves,  to  do  the  will  of  God. 

'  Goodness  and  greatness  are  not  means,  l)ut  ends. 
Hath  he  not  always  treasures,  always  friends. 
The  good,  great  man  ?     Three  treasures,  love  and  light, 
And  calm  thoughts,  regular  as  infant's  breath  ; 
And  three  fast  friends,  more  sure  than  day  or  night. 
Himself,  his  Maker,  and  the  angel  Death.'  " 


766  REMINISCENCES 

Judge  Symonds  was  followed  ])y  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  S. 
Burrage,  who  said : 

"  This  is  an  occasion  of  more  than  ordinary  interest.  In  all 
that  has  now  so  justly  and  so  felicitously  been  said  concerning 
permanent  memorials  of  the  men  who  have  reflected  honor 
upon  this  goodly  city,  we  are  all,  I  am  sure,  in  heartiest 
accord.  Of  such  memorials  a  beginning  has  already  been 
made  in  Franklin  Simmons'  beautiful  statue  of  Longfellow, 
the  poet  beloved,  whoso  gracious  presence  here  in  the  home 
of  his  birth  had  hardly  been  missed  Avhen  the  movement  for 
the  erection  of  this  statue  was  commenced.  And  now  we  have 
this  admirable  portrait  of  General  Neal  Dow  —  a  gift  to  the 
city  inspired  by  filial  affection.  With  the  exception  of  Long- 
fellow, no  one  has  made  Portland  so  widely  known  as  has  the 
father  of  Prohibition.  For  more  than  a  generation,  wherever 
around  the  wide  world  the  friends  of  temperance  have  grap- 
pled in  close  conflict  with  their  opponents,  they  have  done  so 
with  words  of  encouragement  spoken  by  the  leader  of  the  pro- 
hil)ition  movement.  Now  that  he  is  no  longer  with  us, 
therefore,  it  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  that  we  have  this  in 
every  way  satisfactory  portrait  of  General  Dow.  The  artist, 
with  painstaking  fidelity,  has  done  his  work,  and  we  can  point 
to  it  as  a  faithful  representation  of  the  form  and  features  of 
our  late  fellow-citizen.  But  surely  something  more  is  due  to 
his  memory ;  and  as  has  already  been  suggested,  not  many 
years  should  be  allowed  to  pass  before  we  shall  have  in  our 
city,  suitably  located,  a  statue  of  General  Dow  in  enduring 
bronze,  something  for  the  eye  of  the  passer-by  even  and  from 
which  the  boys  on  the  street  as  well  as  the  men  of  ri])er  years 
shall  receive  inspiration  to  the  highest  and  n()])lest  jjurposes 
in  life. 

General  Dow  is  generally  thought  of  us  a  man  with  one 
idea.  He  Avas  far  from  that,  but  what  h(^  did  for  the  })romo- 
tion  of  temperance  is  his  crowning  honor.  The  harmful 
results  of  the  drink  hal)it,  he  early  recognized  and  deplored. 
There  were  scenes  of  which  he  was  an  eye-witness  that  stirred 
his  soul.  Who  can  wonder,  then,  that  his  thoughts  concern- 
ing the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  li(|uors  at  length 
dominated  him  so  completely  that  other  activities  in  which 
men  engage  ])ecame  sul)oi'dinate  or  were  entirely  ignored.  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  his  deepest  interest  in  the 
cause  of  temperance  grew  out  of  his  interest  in  good  citizen- 
ship.     A    ha])))V,   prosperous  connnunity,  was  the  high   ideal 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  767 

that  was  ever  before  him,  and  to  such  ends  as  he  believed 
would  secure  the  realization  of  his  ideal  he  devoted  himself 
with  an  energy  and  single-heartedness  that  were  the  [)roniise 
of  success.  But  he  had  continually  within  the  circle  of  his 
vision  the  larger  interest  of  the  nation,  and  when  slavery 
threatened  the  free  institutions  the  fathers  had  established, 
and  the  Civil  war  came,  although  by  a  decade  he  was  past  the 
military  age,  with  what  ardor  he  threw  himself  into  the  con- 
flict, believing  that 

'  The  Attest  place  for  man  to  die 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man,' 
and  that 

'  God's  most  dreaded  instrument 
In  working  out  a  pure  intent 
Is  man  arrayed  for  mutual  slaughter.' 

But  when  the  war  was  over,  having  discharged  his  duty  to 
his  country  in  that  great  crisis  of  its  existence,  General  Dow 
took  up  again  the  task  which  for  the  time  he  had  laid  aside, 
but  which  still  concerned  us  as  a  people  ;  and  in  the  fierce 
struggle  with  the  rum  traffic  he  spent  the  remnant  of  his  days. 
In  this  struggle  he 

'  Never  turned  his  back,  but  marched  breast  forward.' 
Strong  blows  he  struck,  but  it  was  always  in  the  open  field, 
and  with  unfailing  faith  in  ultimate  victory.  Of  course  there 
were  times  when  even  those  who  agreed  with  General  Dow 
concerning  the  principle  of  Prohibition  found  it  impossil)le  to 
follow  him,  or  to  keep  step  with  him.  The  nobility  of  his 
purpose,  his  indomitable  will  in  executing  it,  however,  we 
all  recognize,  and  in  our  estimate  of  the  man  any  diflerences 
we  may  have  had  are  of  little  account  compared  with  his 
conspicuous  virtues,  and  in  no  wise  lessen  our  admiration  for 
one  who  consecrated  his  life  to  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-men. 

It  is  as  he  appeared  a  few  years  after  his  return  from  the 
war  that  General  Dow  is  presented  to  us  upon  this  canvas. 
Although  at  that  time  he  had  reached  his  three  score  years 
and  ten,  he  was  still  in  the  full  possession  of  a  vigorous  man- 
hood. I  became  a  resident  of  Portland  in  1873,  and  General 
Dow  was  a  near  neighbor.  Upon  his  cheek  there  was  still 
the  ruddy  glow  of  health,  and  his  step  was  clastic  and  firm. 
Indeed,  as  we  all  know,  it  was  only  in  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  I  might  almost  say  the  last  months,  that  we  were  com- 
pelled to  say  of  him  as  we  passed  him  on  the  street,  '  How 
is  the  strong  staff  broken,  and  the  beautiful  rod.' 


768  REMIXISCEXCES 

The  artist  has  done  well,  therefore,  to  place  uj^on  his  canvas 
the  great  leader  of  Proliil)ition  in  the  fulness  of  his  manly 
strength.  Compassion  for  the  tempted,  an  unyielding  pur- 
pose in  the  heroic  endeavor  to  strike  down  the  tempter,  a 
sound  mind  in  a  sound  body  —  it  is  all  there  in  the  striking 
portrait  hanging  before  us.  It  is  the  General  Xeal  Dow  we 
have  all  known  and  honored. 

There  is  an  old  Greek  legend  connected  wdth  the  battle  of 
Marathon  -which  we  may  very  properly  recall  here  to-day.  It 
is  said  that  long  after  the  l)attle,  as  the  Greeks  from  the  sur- 
rounding hills  looked  down  upon  the  plain  where  their 
fathers  met  the  invading  Persian  legions  and  overthrew  them 
in  disastrous  defeat,  the  clash  of  armor,  the  cries  of  the  van- 
quished and  the  shouts  of  the  victors  could  still  be  heard  as 
the  battle  was  daily  renewed  by  the  invisible  combatants. 
The  conflict  in  which  General  Dow  was  engaged  is  also  still 
in  progress,  but  not  on  a  field  in  which  the  combatants  are 
invisible.  As  the  Greeks  were  inspired  to  deeds  of  heroic 
daring  by  the  splendid  achievements  of  their  ancestors,  so 
for  generations  to  come  may  men  and  women  in  the  same 
great  conflict  in  which  General  Dow  had  the  foremost  part  be 
inspired  by  his  nol)le  example." 

At  the  close  of  Dr.  Burrage's  address,  Mayor  Ran- 
dall, in  accepting  the  portrait,  said: 

"Ladies  axd  Gentlejien  :  —  I  esteem  it  an  especial  hon- 
or that  at  the  l)eginning  of  my  second  term  as  mayor  I  should 
have  the  privilege  and  pleasure  of  accepting  in  behalf  of  the 
city  this  splendid  portrait  of  one  of  her  most  distinguished 
sons.  General  Neal  Dow.  Born  in  our  city,  he  lived  his 
entire  life  among  us,  and  finally  passed  away,  loved,  honored, 
and  respected  by  every  citizen  of  Portland.  Early  in  life  he 
espoused  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  for  over  seventy  years 
he  fought  the  good  fight  with  word  and  pen.  His  death  was 
mourned  liy  thousands.  A  distinguished  soldier,  an  able 
Tva'iter,  and  a  Ijorn  orator,  his  name  is  known  throughout  the 
world. 

And  to-day,  in  the  name  ot  his  native  city,  of  which  he 
was  twice  mayor,  and  which  he  loved  so  well,  and  in  behalf 
of  all  our  citizens,  I  accept  with  heartfelt  thanks  this  no])le 
gift,  and  I  extend  to  his  honore<l  son.  Col.  Fred.  ]S .  Dow,  the 
donor,  and  the  entire  family,  the  gratitude,  the  thanks,  and 
the  kindest  reijards  of  the  whole  conmiunitv." 


OF    NEAL    DOW.  769 

At  its  regular  meeting,  April  4,  1898,  the  city 
government  upon  motion  of  Alderman  Lamson,  unani- 
mously adopted  tlie  following  resolution : 

"  Whereas,  On  the  21st  of  March,  1898,  in  the  presence  of 
a  large  number  of  our  representative  citizens,  a  })()rtrait  of  our 
late  distinguished  citizen.  General  Xeal  Dow,  twice  mayor  of 
Portland,  was  unveiled  and  formally  presented  to  the  city  by 
Colonel  Frederick  N.  Dow,  and  accepted  in  behalf  of  the  city 
in  appropriate  remarks  liy  his  Honor,  Mayor  Kandall,  and  on 
which  occasion  Hon.  Joseph  W.  Symonds  and  Rev.  Dr.  Bur- 
rage  dwelt  in  eloquent  addresses  upon  the  life  and  character 
of  General  Dow,  therefore  be  it 

"  Resolved,  That  the  city  council  in  general  convention 
assembled,  lierel>y  accepts  and  signifies  its  appreciation  of  the 
gift  of  the  portrait  of  General  Dow,  and  extends  a  vote  of 
thanks  to  the  donor.  Col.  Fred.  N.  Dow. 

^^  Resolved,  That  this  convention  deems  it  an  appropriate 
time  to  place  upon  its  records  its  testimony  to  the  respect  in 
which  General  Dow  was  held  by  the  citizens  of  Portland. 
Through  his  intellectual  force,  his  ardent  zeal,  and  earnest 
advocacy,  he  was  universally  recognized  as  the  master  spirit 
and  acknowledged  leader  of  those  who  favored  Prohibition. 
His  eloquence  as  a  speaker,  his  force  as  a  writer,  and  the  con- 
sistency and  fearlessness  with  which  he  maintained  what  he 
believed  to  l^e  right,  secured  a  large  measure  of  public  admi- 
ration. While  during  all  his  life  General  Dow  was  a 
persistent  and  courageous  and  faithful  exponent  of  the 
principles  with  which  his  name  has  a  world-wide  identification, 
his  usefulness  was  by  no  means  limited  to  that  cause.  His 
fellow-citizens  are  justly  proud  of  the  services  he  rendered  to 
his  city,  state,  and  country,  and  testify  to  their  appreciation 
of  the  integrity,  ability,  and  moral  and  physical  courage 
which  he  evinced  whether  in  civil  or  military  station,  or  in  the 
walks  of  private  life." 


1 78 


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